Twilight
by ShullieQ
Summary: Itachi and Deidara are from two separate worlds of the same city, going to the same highschool. Opposites Attract? ItaxDei ItaDei Warnings: AU, Yaoi, Child abuse, drug use, alcohol, prostitution PS. you know my summaries suck, just R&R please  Complete
1. Chapter 1

**Twilight**

**Chapter 1 **

* * *

Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my other fanfics.I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy my new fic.

* * *

Summer was drawing to an end, fighting against the fall for more time in the year. Despite it nearly being mid October, the weather was warm - painfully warm. The sun beat down on the heads of those walking the ground under it's rays as they went about their daily business. Those owning cars had the benefit of a roof and air conditioning, but those that walked loathed the transfer of buildings they required to go through their day. They were the ones that acknowledged the sun most, glaring at it angrily or simply complaining to those suffering with them. Green was nearly finished being overtaken by the warm colors of summer and all anyone wanted was to hid indoors or relax in a body of water to regain the liquid lost from sweat. Students filing into the parking lot of the high school didn't bother with the colors around them in their hurry to get out of the sun.

A black Mazda rolled into the parking lot, quickly finding a spot and claiming it. Several heads turned to stare at the beautiful car, ogling at its make, the sound of it's engine as it was cut off. Even more heads turned to watch the two brothers that got out of the car. As it often happens, the combination of rich and pretty meshed together formed the two brothers of head of police Uchiha Fugaku and his wife Mikoto. Both boys top of their classes and involved in many school activities. The older of the two, Uchiha Itachi was a senior and graduating this year; schools all over the country were begging for his attendance, offering scholarships of incredible amounts. The younger of the two, while not as well known as his brother was well known among the Freshman just starting their years in high school, Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke gave his brother a grin in thanks for the ride and strode off to meet his group of friends before hurrying inside away from the heat. Itachi walked in alone, more wishing he was alone as a pack of girls followed him in. Telling them once to go away, he ignored them the rest of the walk to the cafeteria, going in to get some breakfast before the school bell rang.

The large cafeteria was almost chilly compared to the heat outside, rows of long tables with benches connected to them were laid out neatly up and down the tiled room. It was empty except for a few people studying and a group of teenagers at one of the few round tables near the food counters. He paused to glance at them with a curious distaste. This group looked like trouble, if he remembered correctly they were trouble in fact. Seven of them were at the table, three boys and four girls. No wait, four boys and three girls. One of the boys, the unnaturally blond one, looked remarkably mistakable for a girl, but deep voice gave away his gender as he laughed at something one of the other boys said. One of the girls seemed to beg him in a sedative manner for something that he brushed off easily. Irritated, she tossed something on the table top which the blond picked up, flipping through before handing over a small bag which she thanked him for sarcastically, slipping it under her school uniform. Itachi scowled. Dealing on school grounds, in public too. Deciding it was too early to do anything about it he bought himself a small breakfast, eating it on the way to class.

The day passed without mishap or malfunction, Itachi boredly took notes on what his teachers lectured about though he really didn't need too. He could have slept through the classes and still passed with top grades. High school was such a waste of time, hardly a challenge to his intellect. Soon he'd be in college where he could be challenged and face those challenges with hard work. Everyone in his family was involved in the law. If they weren't on the police force, they were lawyers, doctors and various other forms. Itachi was expected before he even got into middle school to be a lawyer - his genius was proof of it he was always told, and he never argued it. The school's he'd be applying for after winter break would be law schools. The top in the country already laid out in his mind assessing the pros and cons of each to make his choice.

Someone commented next to him that he was happy it was Friday. Friday, another beginning to a weekend he'd rather stay in the house and very much alone. With his first glance at the clock, he noted that it was nearly time for sixth period to end. How fast the day passed by when you're not waiting for it to end. Gym was next, he noted with mixed feelings. The last class of the day, yes. A chance to get a work out, yes. But the day was still horribly hot outside, which meant the gym was going to be brutal. The school authorities claimed the large room was air conditioned, but no one believed them. How could they as the second he walked in he was met with a wave of heat and the smell of sweaty bodies from the previous classes. Entering the locker room, he went to his own four rows down and began changing into his gym clothes. The familiar smell of nicotine reached his nose, making him crave a cigarette suddenly, but this was a locker room. Glancing around for the source, he noticed the same blond boy as before sitting against the wall on the floor, smoking. Irritated with the second display of misconduct from him, Itachi snatched it out of his mouth.

"No smoking on school grounds," he told him in a disinterested voice. Scrunching the end against the lockers, he tossed it into the trash and finished changing.

"Fuck you," came the response, again surprising him by the deepness of his voice. It didn't quite fit to him. "Those things aren't cheap, rich boy."

Itachi twitched at the name, glancing down at him a brief moment before turning his back on him. "I'm sure you received enough from your dealings this morning to get another." he stated and walked away. The blond glared at him, but didn't say anything, tilting his nose up in a judgemental manner as he watched him walk away. What an asshole.

As he was about to get up to leave the locker room to skip class, the teacher came in, catching him picking the lock on the laundry room between the boys and girl's locker rooms. Ignoring the scowl sent his way, the teacher made the blond change into the gym clothes and join the rest of the class doing warm ups. Noting the three quarter sleeves, the teacher sighed loudly and turned to his student. "Deidara, please can you wear the uniform the school requires you to wear?" he begged; they'd had this conversation many times before.

"No," the blond said, joining the ring of students jogging or walking around the room. Deidara walked, not feeling particularly energetic that day. When they had run for a good ten minutes, the teacher had them play basket ball in teams of four. Itachi was pleased, though didn't show it with his stoic expression, basket ball was one of his favorites. They played the rest of the class period, the gym filled with the sounds of teenagers playing and the smell of sweat until the teacher's whistle blew to call them all over to him. Next to him was a grey cart with stacks of folders and papers on it.

"I have a weekend assignment for you all," he told them, closing his eyes slightly as a loud groan irrupted in one chorus from the students in front of him, "that you will do with a partner," several murmurs came as some people began telling their friends that they'd of course work with them, but then the teacher finished, changing their murmurs into groans of protests. "of my choosing. You will be partnered according to your records of the year, and you will need BOTH of you to finish this." Ignoring the groans, the teacher began calling out the names of the partners to come up and get the assignment, then sent them in to get showered and changed.

As he rose to collect the assignment, Itachi glanced around for his partner, eyes narrowing slightly at the obvious blond hair that rose at the call of his name. Deidara. Great, just his luck. He watched the blond take the paper from the teacher and head into the locker rooms, noting that he dropped the paper in the trashcan. His scowl deepened. This idiot was not going to ruin his perfect record because he didn't do his part. Following after his partner, grabbing the paper thrown away, he caught him as he was about to step into the shower rooms. Spinning him around with a hand on his shoulder, he pushed the paper against his chest. "You are going to do your part," Itachi said darkly, a threat sewn into his voice.

"Get the fuck off me, un," Deidara snapped, grunting in distaste as he tugged his arm from Itachi's hold. "You can't make me do a fucking paper," he informed him, a cocky smirk sliding onto his face. "Props for trying." Tugging his shirt off, he went into the showers to wash up.

Once he was inside the tiled room behind a frosted glass door, he turned the hot water on and sat down on the floor. The whole day had been a waste of time, Deidara decided, resting his head against the side. Well, not really. The air conditioning in the building was much better then curling up on his floor in front of the fan. Glancing down at his arm, thin pen lines marked on them with little reminders, he squinted to read them. Writing on your arm was frowned upon in the school, but most teachers didn't mind it as long as he kept his sleeves down. Deidara always wore long sleeve shirts in school, even on hot days like this. There was a reason, but no one questioned him because most knew him as being a little off his rocker to begin with. The way he dressed didn't matter so long as he wore the uniform. Finally getting up to wash his hair and the sweat from his body, he closed his eyes in contentment at the feeling. The bell sounding through the hallways indicated to him how long he'd been in their, making him hurry to turn the water off and grab the towel hanging over the door. He did have things he needed to do tonight and people to meet. Staying in the shower all evening wasn't on his high end list of things to do. With his long hair pulled into a low pony tail at his neck, he pulled his regular clothes on, balling up his school uniform to stuff into his messenger bag. Dressed in dark green camouflage pants and a black muscle shirt, he grabbed his leather jacket and tossed the gym clothes into the laundry bag with the rest of the gym clothes. Taking the stairs two at a time, he made a quick stop at his locker to grab his helmet out of it and went outside into the heat.

"Dei-chan!" came several squeals as the waiting girls ran over to him. "Dei-chan give us a ride on your bike! Pleeease?" they begged, gazes going from the red and black Ninja parked a few rows into the lot to Deidara with pleading eyes.

Tilting his head to the side with a wide grin, almost apologetically he shook his head. "I didn't bring my spare helmet, un," he told them, indicating to the one on his hands. "Maybe another time." Ignoring their groans, he slipped passed them pulling his helmet and leather jacket on. On the walk to his bike, he heard the girls following him, asking to sit on it at least or just once around the parking lot, but Deidara shook his head 'no', climbing onto the bike and turning it on. Kicking the bike on, reving it's engine a little he told the girls once again maybe next time and put it in gear, backing out of the spot and zoomed off towards the rode, cutting off a black car that was about to turn as well. He smirked at Itachi's Mazda MX-8 behind the visor of his helmet and drove on.

Itachi glared at him. The bastard was lucky he had nice breaks. He had the sudden urge to chase the pretty bike down and run it's rider over, but he calmed himself down and decided that wasn't a good idea. He didn't go straight home, stopping at the bookstore for a book he wanted to read for his AP Psychology class. With Sasuke catching a ride with his friends, he didn't have to worry about getting home until four when his father would get home. Sitting down at one of the provided chairs, he began reading the murder mystery he's purchased along with the book he'd intended to buy. The whole idea of the murderer's mind enraptured him, making him wonder how he thought, what made him do what he did. He enjoyed reading books as this to get into the mind of the antagonist to attempt to solve the puzzle before the characters did. It wasn't until his phone beeped from a text message that he looked up from the pages. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he saw his brother's name and opened it.

'Where are you??'

With a confused frown, he started to text back that he was at the bookstore and that he had no business of where he was, but he froze seeing the time. So caught up in his book he hadn't realized that nearly two and a half hours had gone by and it was nearly dinner time. Jumping up, he grabbed his book and darted out to his car, driving off as fast as he could to get home. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit,' he rattled in his head over and over. Pulling onto his street, he felt his heart that had been stuck in his throat fall down through the seat and drag on the street a little. The shiny new Volvo C40 was sitting in the driveway and the Porsche wasn't. He wanted so bad to just keep going and not stop, find somewhere else to spend the night, but that would only make it worse later. Pulling into the drive, he turned off the car and got out to walk slowly to the front door. No one was waiting for him...

Sliding his shoes off in the foyer, he snuck up the stairs as silent as he could, going into his room and putting his bag and new books down. Hope crawled back with the silence in the house until a voice came from his doorway. "You're late."

Clenching his jaw, he turned to face his father with a forced calmness, no anger or hate displaying on his face. "I'm sorry, Father," he told him. "I stopped to get a book for school at the store."

"You are to ask permission before you go out," Fugaku said seeing the calmness as arrogance.

Itachi scoffed. "I'm nineteen," he reminded him darkly. He should have kept his mouth shut as a balled fist collided with his stomach. Biting down on his lip, he refused to make a noise for all his pain. He wouldn't give him that kind of pleasure. If he could help it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Twilight**

**Chapter 1 **

* * *

Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my other fanfics.I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy my new fic.

* * *

One would imagine how difficult it must be to get up in the morning after a evening of pain and a night of silence to return to school and once again be the perfect student. A model student, a genius, and an Uchiha. No one knew of the life of the eldest Uchiha brother outside of school save for his brother, not even his mother was aware of it. The night before, as always when problems happened, Sasuke had come into his room with a sandwich and drink for him and asked if he needed anything. Itachi, studying as though nothing had happened, told him he was fine and should do his home work. Those in the world who share similar lives and wish to hide them understand the processes one goes to cover evidence away from others. Make up was easy to acquire and only an adequate amount was needed to hide anything on his face. Long sleeves, forged doctor's notes, fight stories. Thankfully he didn't need to use any of these methods as no suspicious marks could be seen.

The day went by slowly today, perhaps because it was Friday, perhaps because Itachi was beginning to loath his gym class. That stupid fool better have done the assignment work. It didn't matter if the paper wasn't due until Monday, Itachi had finished it easily last night. There was no way the blond couldn't have done the same.

He was to be disappointed however, for when he arrived to his gym class, listening for the teacher to call order among the students for a head check, the teenager wasn't there. Shaking it off, he went about the physical education as he was supposed too. After the class was over and he was showered and ready for the ride home, Itachi went to the teacher and asked where Deidara lived so he could talk to him about the assignment.

"I'm sorry, Itachi-kun," the gym teacher told him, looking apologetically at him. "I can't give out student information, and I'd have to dig up the information from his records... All I remember is he doesn't live in the best parts of town."

"Does he have a number I can call?" Itachi pushed, crossing his arms loosely. "I doubt he'll do the assignment without someone pushing him." He gave the teacher an expression to remind him that he put him in a horrible hole with this assignment.

"I'm sorry, Itachi-kun," he said, shaking his head. "You could try the park down town, from what I've seen and heard, Deidara and his friends go there a lot, even on hot days like this." Reaching out, he placed a hand on Itachi's shoulders, giving him a piteous look. "Please be patient with him," he said, sounding tired. "Deidara's a smart kid in his defense, he's just got.. the most irritating personality in the world."

"Great, that makes it all better doesn't it," he snapped, turning on his heals to go up the stairs into the main school building, heading towards his car. Getting in, he paused before turning the car on. He didn't want to seek him out, but he had no choice.

When Itachi got out of his car, he frowned in distaste at the heat. It was smouldering. He couldn't understand why anyone in their right mind would want to be outside let alone being active. The sounds of people playing behind the chain link fence sickened him to hear. He needed to come here though. He would force that brat to do the assignment even if he had to drag him to his house and torture him until he complied.

He shouldn't think like that; it actually sounded appealing.

How can they be so active in this heat? he repeated to himself. He had only ever driven by the Skate Park, having been told that the place was dangerous as a child. From where he stood at the entrance, it looked no more then a playground for young adults. Concrete ramps were scattered over the park as were a court or two and flat places to play. People were skateboarding or biking on the ramps, or just watching, several people had a game of basketball going on one of the courts and a few people even brought their younger children to play with each other, chalking on the sidewalks under the watchful eye of their parents. To Itachi the place looked like the biggest place in the city for crime and drug rings.

It wasn't long until his new face and nicer clothes were noticed by the people around the skating rinks. Some stared without caring, others whispered quietly among themselves, some took him only as some rich kid looking for dope. Through the crowds on the high ramp, Itachi spotted the unmistakable blond hair of Deidara, shouting down ridicule at the one who'd just finished, laughing with them. He was wearing nicer clothes today it seemed, they looked somewhat new, Itachi wondered if he stole them. "Whatcha looking for man?" someone near him asked.

"Him," he said nodding his head. Deidara shouted something he couldn't understand and threw his arms up, receiving a shout from the people below. Their response seemed to please him as he dropped down the high ramp.

A few people snickered at hearing Itachi's statement. Itachi said nothing else to them, ignoring the mutters behind his back. They seemed amused by the fact that he wanted to talk to the blond who seemed to be top domination in the park. The blond was showing off in a very unnecessarily on his skateboard, it made Itachi more sick to watch then the weather was. Someone that obnoxious and physically wrong. He acted tough, but looked so girly. Long flowing gold locks and a oddly deep voice. What the hell was so special about him?

"Yeah, Deidara!" someone shouted as Deidara finally jumped up onto the starting point once again. People hooted and cheered, those at the stand patting his shoulders.

What a moron, he muttered. "Looks like a bunch of show for compensation," Itachi said, smirking nastily. His voice was casual, yet loud enough to carry over the park. The cheers stopped for a moment then started up again in a roar of anger, reproaching him for talking down on Deidara. The blond hadn't heard him, but the teenagers around Itachi had.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, ass wipe?" one snapped, stepping up to Itachi to stare him down.

"You deaf?" Itachi question him, standing his ground in front of the bigger man.

The teenager gave Itachi a short but hard shove. "You don't fucking talk about Deidara like that," he snapped at him. "You can't just come up here and want to fuck up the fun."

"I'll talk about garbage the way it should be talked about," Itachi stated, batting his hands away from his chest. He saw the taller man's hands clench ready to hit him a grin trying to slide onto his face but he kept it back. Beating him to it, he smashed the other's nose with his fist, knocking him onto the concrete with a disgusting crunch. "My apologies, I was attempting to bring the fun back. You know us 'rich kids', we're so spoiled, we don't always know what's classified as fun."

The uproar was bigger then he expected. Everyone saw what happened, and those that didn't were quickly informed as everyone seemed to rush over to them. Itachi didn't flinch with the oncoming assault, but it stopped nearly five feet away from him, when a sharp voice snapped, though it was difficult to decipher the words over the sound of the angry mob around him. The crowd parted slightly as the blond pushed his way through to him. Deidara's sharp blue eyes looked even sharper as he angrily stormed up to Itachi.

"What the hell was that?" he snapped, stopping in front of him. Itachi never noticed in school how short the blond was compared to him and the people around him. He looked rather midget like compared to most actually, he wanted to laugh.

"What?" Itachi asked, eyeing him down, specifically... down. "Can't I join in with your fun?"

"This isn't fun," Deidara snapped. "This is your sad little self looking for a fight." Glaring at him, he turned around and looked over at the groaning man on the ground. "Get him out of here, un," he told the three kneeling next to him.

Itachi watched the other's obey what Deidara was telling them. Why anyone would listen to a midget was beyond him. Ruby eyes followed the movements with a withdrawn intent, deniably curious to how these people lived and moved. He never hung around what could be classified as the underclass, or out right poor, considering them scum. It never occurred to him that they considered him scum for being as rich as he was, even though Deidara obviously did. He even considered his family scum for their rich sophisticated ways, but that didn't stop him from looking down at people. He watched the blond turn and face him, an evil look about him. Not only him, but the people around them looked ready for the murder of an Uchiha. Before the hotheaded boy could say anything, Itachi cut him off. "I need to talk to you," he told him, expression as stoically dead as ever.

"Like fuck I'll talk to you, un!" Deidara snapped at him, but Itachi wasn't going to risk his grade just because Deidara was being stubborn. He stared Itachi down, not backing down from the other's glare. This was so frustrating, Itachi just turned on his heel and walked out towards the parking lot. He would get him later.

The parking lot wasn't more then a grass spotted pavement outside of the Skate park by the road. Crowded with cars, and bikes, Itachi had to walk passed a few cars to get to his Mazda. A few cars seemed out of place for the area, his own included. That was rather odd, but the Uchiha bypassed it when he saw a group sitting against his car, looking at it like hungry wolves. Except these wolves didn't look like they just wanted to drool over how nice the car was, or the modifications of it. Before he could open his mouth to tell them to get away from his car, he was shoved to the side. Glaring at the back of the green bandanna covered blond head, he followed as Deidara snapped at them to get off the car.

"I don't need your help," Itachi said, stopping at the end of his car.

"I'd rather not have the cops swarming the place because some morons decided to fuck up the head of police's son's car, un," Deidara said. A few people heard him, starting slightly in surprise of who Itachi was.

Itachi ignored it, not proud as most would seem at being the son of the great Uchiha Fugaku. Quite the opposite. These people hated him as much as Itachi did, yet it didn't make a difference. He was looked at as though he were Fugaku himself, though he was certain that if his father arrived here, alone and with his nice car, he would have been jumped and his car stolen or destroyed. Nothing he did would change that, no matter what he did, expectations were always around him and few can go against expectations as high as these. Top grades, top colleges with studies in the same fields as the rest of his family. Despite his attempts to be alone, get away from all that, there was always people pretending to faun over him, demanding things from him. His gaze slid back over to the blond; except this one. The only thing he expected from him was that he was as he expected all those from rich families to be. "Get in the car," Itachi ordered, unlocking the car and getting into the drivers side.

"What?" Deidara demanded, hanging back. He was unsure of what Itachi wanted. Why would he get in Itachi's car with him?

"Get in the car...please," he suggested, sarcasm laced in his words. He closed the drivers side and turned the car on, waiting patiently for Deidara to make a decision. Much to his own and the people watching's surprise, Deidara got in the car and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Fuck. No," he said, leaning closer to him, then turned and got out. Itachi's eyes darkened angrily as the teenagers hooted and jeered at him for being turned down by the blond. Anger and confusion was bubbling up in him and he hated it. He glared at the teens back as he walked away, followed like a gang lord by the others still laughing at the rich boy's knock down. Shifting gears in a violent gesture, Itachi revved out of his parking lot, tires screeching as he turned into traffic, nearly colliding with someone as he went, leaving behind a group of laughing street kids.

He didn't get it, the boy... teenager.. man - what ever he was - was relentlessly persistent. Almost as stubborn as himself. Not even a steady amount of alcohol and a needle of drugs could get his mind off it. Not even the hand around his waist or the nips at his neck. Why was he chasing after him over a grade? His thoughts were interrupted as another glass of alcohol was held in front of him. His fingers slid over the glass handed to him by the person he was entertaining for the night. A voice called in his ear over the music, questioning what was wrong with him. Putting away all thoughts of the eldest Uchiha brother away for the time being; he had other things to think on. He couldn't entertain when he was thinking on his idiocy.

Moving with the music, the flashing lights and moving bodies around in one fluid movement. It was ecstasy in it's self, but despite the rush it wasn't enough. That's what real ecstasy was for and it was rushing through his system. It felt fantastic, like a thrill of a nice ride on an open road. It helped him forget what he was doing and why he needed to do it. He was just another body in the mass of swaying bodies, loosing themselves in the beat of the DJ speakers.

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R&R 


	3. Chapter 3

**Twilight**

**Chapter 3 **

* * *

Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

* * *

The clouds above rumbled above, too far away to be anything more then rain and grumbles. There wasn't even lightning in the sky. The sky had been crying for three days now. Almost as though it were sad that Deidara hadn't been to school in three days. No that couldn't be it, Itachi decided as he drummed his finger against the wheel of the car. Why would anyone be sad in the absence of him? No, the only thing people would be sad about is that they couldn't get their drugs. Most would be happy he wasn't in school. Not him. Not Uchiha Itachi. Uchiha Itachi hated Deidara and was pissed off that he hadn't been to school as much as he wished he would never return. However if he didn't return he would not get an A on this assignment and it was due in two days. This had gone on too long. He did not want to do this, but he had to. After school and after another attempt at dragging Deidara's personal information out of unyielding teacher, Itachi had driven to the skate park and beaten it out of the people there.

So now he was moving down the one of the dirtiest, poorest streets he'd ever been on, driving towards a seven story run down building. His beautiful shiny car looked completely out of place and he had a feeling that his baby might be endangered in this neighbor hood, but he didn't plan on staying here too long. Getting out of the car, he opened his umbrella and made sure his doors were locked before going up to the door. There was no knocker, the doors were locked; it made him wonder if the occupants of the building broke in themselves to live here. He noticed a small key pad on the side of the door with room numbers and buttons on it. This must have been a real apartment at some point and time before it got overrun with pests - and probably bugs as well. He didn't know which button would page Deidara's room, so he settled on the first one. If it wasn't his room then he could ask to be let in.

He didn't have to wait long, a voice came from the intercom. It sounded bored and brusque. "Can I help you?" it questioned.

"I'm looking for Deidara," Itachi said, refusing to be one of those morons in movies that put there face up against the speakers as though the other side would never be able to hear him unless he yelled right up against it. He knew whenever someone did that, there always ended up being a camera the insiders could see and make fun of you as you yelled for them.

"What for?" again with the bored tone. What was it her business what he wanted Deidara for? He was half tempted to tell her that he wanted to come here and murder the blond. He wondered if that would cause a change in her voice.

"He's in my class at school, we're doing a project together," he replied instead. Manners helped give that extra step and apparently it was a decent enough excuse because the voice told him to 'hold on' then fell silent. He waited patiently, glancing back a few times at his car. He hoped it was safe there and that Deidara was feeling cooperative, he didn't want to be here any longer then he needed to be.

With a soft whooshing sound and a creaking scream for oiled hinges, the door opened and a woman appeared, far into her months of pregnancy dressed in dark jeans and a little spaghetti strap shirt. There was a moments pause before it was broken by a little girl running up the stairs behind them and cling to the woman's leg. "Obachan! Come see what I did! It's purty!" she said with a wide happy grin.

"I'll be right there, sweety, go wait for me," the change in the woman's voice was shocking. It suddenly melted into something patient, kind and caring; she even squeezed out a smile at the girl as she ran off again. "Sorry," she said, her voice much less bland then before. "What can I help you with? I'm the care taker of the building."

Itachi hid his confusion at her words. A care taker could be categorized in the businesses of two ways: one would be that she was the apartment cleaner as though this run down place was a mansion inside. He could, however see the inside of the building and decided that either it was another one, or she was just lazy. The other possibility was that she was a baby sitter of sorts for the children living there like that little girl who'd disappeared down the stairs. She had said 'of the building' though, which indicated that she was the baby sitter of them all. "I'm looking for Deidara," Itachi repeated. "Blond, short, obnoxious?"

"Yes, I know him," she said with a smile. She held the door open wider for him and led him towards the stairs. With a hand under her swollen belly, she led him up four flights of stairs before pausing at the landing. "This is Deidara's room," she said, motioning to a plain door in front of them. How surprising, he had expected it to have phrases such as 'KEEP OUT' and the like posted all over the door.

"Rin." Itachi turned around at the new voice that had crept up the stairs behind them. Itachi studied the man as much as he was being studied. Average height, very well built, clean shaven. He looked like a normal man you'd see walking down the streets of the city, although he had much more distinctive traits about him. Several piercings in his ears, one on his lip, nose and eyebrow - Itachi was certain he'd set off a metal detector if he went through - also he had short blue dyed hair that stuck up like a hair gel commercial. Despite his gruff, punk high school appearance, somehow he came off as one that should not be taken lightly, though his voice was soft when he spoke to the woman that had led him up the stairs. "You shouldn't be climbing all these steps."

"I'm fine," the woman, Rin, said with a smile. She motioned the door again to Itachi then walked down the stairs with the blue haired man, leaving him alone on the landing.

He would never understand these people, he thought to himself as he turned to face the door of Deidara's room. Raising a hand unhesitatingly, he knocked twice then waited. He could hear the blonde's voice on the other side demanding what the interruption was. Without waiting for the actual invite, Itachi turned the handle and walked in, a quick glance of the room found Deidara lounging on a mattress on the floor smoking a cigarette - or it could be a joint by the way the smoke smelled. The broken panels in the windows let the smoke out, keeping it less foggy then it would have been. "Oh, it's you," Deidara said, not sounding pleased at all. "Let me save you the breath: I'm not doing the assignment, un."

Itachi frowned at him, glancing down at the unmade bed he was on. His black cargo pants and blue sleeveless shirt. He'd never seen Deidara's hair down without a bandanna around it and, despite it looking slept on and unwashed for the day, it still spilled down over his shoulders onto the bed with a casual air of elegance. Ignoring it, he pulled the papers from his jacket and held them out. "Look I did my part, but you need to do yours," he said, waving them a little. "I tried to do both parts, but it's designed to be for both partners. I have a perfect grade... don't make me hurt you so it doesn't get tarnished."

He hadn't expected Deidara to leap up and bounce around squealing that he'd do it happily, but his reaction was not what he'd expected. All he did was blink slowly at him a few times then reach out for him to hand him the paper. Deidara glanced at it, realizing he hadn't even done that before when he first got it. Perhaps it would look a little better now. Nope. He flicked the paper and watched it float down to the ground, mesmerized by the movement. Glancing up at Itachi he raised an eyebrow and rolled away from him to give him his back. "Not going to do it, un," he informed him returning the joint to his lips.

Glaring angrily, Itachi grabbed him by the collar and tore the little roll up out of his mouth and stomped on it. "That's disgusting," Itachi growled.

"You smoke too, un," Deidara retorted, looking very put out by Itachi's actions.

"Not this shit," Itachi said, dragging him up off the bed. Before Deidara could protest that it wasn't shit, in fact it was quite fantastic, Itachi had slammed his back against the wall pressing him hard against it. Glaring darkly at the shorter man, Itachi shoved him again then growled. "What do you want?" he asked in a much calmer voice then his actions gave.

"For you to let go of me, un," Deidara snapped back. "I can't believe you even came here, un!" He let his head fall back against the wall. "Aren't you worried you'll get some freak disease or something? This orphanage doesn't take visitors well." He turned his nose up at Itachi, his smug look shining through his high. If Itachi didn't know about that, he did now, whether he cared or not. "It's just a grade anyway, un..."

Itachi's eyes darkened. If it was just a grade he wouldn't be doing this. It wasn't just a grade in so many different ways. He had a perfect record, that was enough to push to keep it that way. His father wanted him to be the best of the best. That was more then enough to push. He wouldn't be pleased to know he had gotten a bad grade on one measly gym assignment because his partner refused to do it. Asking nicely didn't seem to work against Deidara, neither did the physical threat, but he could always try again.

"Look, you!" he snapped, giving him another shove against the wall. Deidara's head bounced off the plaster covered wall, making him wince a little, but Itachi ignored it. "You do the fucking assignment or I'm going to make you hurt more then you ever have." he growled in his ear.

Deidara leaned forward with how close he was and nipped Itachi's ear lobe, causing him to start in surprise. "I doubt that," he whispered, letting go of his ear. Grinning at him, Deidara watched Itachi's hands clench then let him go. he watched him growl angrily and smash his phone against the opposite wall. What a spoiled baby. The door slammed, foot steps stomped and he was gone. Rubbing the back of his head, Deidara watched Itachi leave the building and get into his car, tires squealing as the car peeled away.

The blond wasn't in school the next day either. Instead of driving back to his house and beating the living day lights out of the short arrogant boy, Itachi drove around in outskirts of the city for some moments alone then drove home. No cars were in the driveway, that was good. A nice quiet evening. As he approached the door, he suddenly remembered something he forgot: he was supposed to give Sasuke a ride home from school. Damnit! He banged his head against the door post. If Sasuke got a ride with friends, he was definitely going to be one pissed off little brother.

The sounds of the tv welcomed him into the house. Yep, Sasuke was home. Walking into the living room, Itachi half braced himself for an assault, but the sight before him made him drop his guard and just stare. He didn't see Sasuke get up from his seat and run over to him and give him a playful, yet reproaching shove. "Niisan! Where were you!" he demanded. "You were supposed to give me a ride!"

"What is he doing here?" Itachi demanded, pointing at the infamous blond he wished he'd never met lounging comfortable on his sofa with a sandwich and can of soda. The blond never looked so content at getting under Itachi's skin. It made Itachi even angrier to know that Deidara knew he'd succeeded.

"Deidara gave me a ride home with his friends," Sasuke said, looking a little huffed at Itachi's rudeness.

"I needed a place to crash, un," Deidara said as though that explained it all. "It's hot outside. You have air conditioning." He grinned a little as Itachi pushed Sasuke behind him and stormed up to the blond, preparing to yell himself hoarse at him. Beating the stream of insults, Deidara held up a folded piece of paper out to him. "You forgot this yesterday," he told him as he handed it to him then continued eating his sandwich and turned to watch the television.

Itachi had snatched it from him, knowing what it was, but before he could yell, he noticed a different handwriting on the paper. Opening it with a frown, he found his own handwriting where he had placed it, but also another set, smaller then his own on the line's he'd left blank. The moron did the assignment... which was due tomorrow. He had definitely not expected that. Looking up at Deidara, he watched the blond finish eating and sighed.

"You, follow me," he ordered, pointing at Deidara, then at the stairs. He walked up without looking to see if he was following. He wanted to talk to him without Sasuke involved. Itachi had used some of his influences to dig up information on Deidara. And he didn't like what he saw. A glance back as he opened the door to his room showed him Deidara walking up the stairs with his hands in his pockets. Good. He could see Sasuke's nosey face poking around the living room wall to see what was going on. Ignoring it, he grabbed Deidara's shirt and shoved him into the room.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Deidara demanded as he caught himself on the bed post before he fell. "Stop pushing me around like a--" His rant was cut off by a punch from the taller man before him. The sound of it seemed to vibrate in his skull as the pain from it disappeared for a small moment, only to return as a throb.

"Don't you ever come near my brother again." Itachi growled as he stood over him. "I saw your record in the school and police reports and I don't want you anywhere near him."

Deidara frowned, rubbing his cheek. "Nothing happened now did it?" he demanded, though why Itachi thought he would hurt his brother was beyond him. Standing up so he could move to the other side of the bed, Deidara frowned at him. "What records?"

"Drug dealing, arsoning, theft, underage drinking, police assault, drug use, my father's the fucking head of police!" Itachi listed, glaring at him across the bed. Deidara rolled his eyes a little. He already knew that. Hadn't he just told the others a few days ago? Why was he telling him something he already knew? "I went through a shit load of trouble to get you to do this!"

"So?" Deidara replied. "Your brother is obviously fine." This was getting dumber by the minute. Itachi looked ready to throw another hissy fit, which reminded him... "Did you get a new phone?" he asked in mock innocence. Of course he would. Probably a nice new expensive camera phone or something. Yep, sure enough. He glanced at the phone Itachi waved at him then returned to his pocket.

"I should make you fucking pay for it for all you put me through," Itachi growled, wanting to beat that smug look off Deidara's face.

"Why would I pay for it?" Deidara demanded, a hand finding it's self on his hip. "You're the one who broke your phone with your little hissy fit, un." Movement across the bed, caught his attention but it was too fast to get away from as Itachi jumped over the bed to wrestle him to the floor. Deidara struggled violently under the taller man, but Itachi held him down fast, sitting on his legs so he couldn't kick him. "What is your fucking problem?!" he demanded, a little louder then he intended. "Get the fuck off me!"

"You've been my fucking problem lately," Itachi snapped. "Why the hell are you getting off on giving me so much hassle?" Deidara didn't answer him as he glared at him, panting softly from the struggle. Itachi's glare darkened, but in the silence he began noticing little things. Deidara looked a little different... nicer. None of the flamboyant, hole filled, marker stained old clothes he usually wore to school and what he'd seen him in the skating park. His hair even looked nicer... he smelled good too. Itachi suddenly found himself with the urge to lean over and smell him more, just to figure out what the scent was. He resisted. "Why are you so dressed up?" he asked him, still glaring, but the anger in his voice was gone, leaving only a firm tone, demanding an answer.

The blonds mouth grew smaller as he glared at him. Before he could respond to his question, the front door shut loudly, causing them both to jump slightly. Itachi frowned, listening hard; he hadn't heard a car pull up into the driveway. Finally the voice he didn't want to hear found it's way up the stairs under his door as his father talked to Sasuke in the kitchen. Itachi's heart lept a little. "You gotta go," he said, getting off the blond and pulling him to his feet. Fuck how was he supposed to get out?

He glanced over at Deidara, who seemed to be listening to the voice himself, trying to place it. He seemed to figure it out before Itachi could insist he get out again. He heard him muttering under his breath as he went to the window, opening it up and climbing out. "This is the second floor!" Itachi hissed under his breath. Did the blond have a death wish?! Apparently he did. He watched Deidara grin back at him before disappearing from the window as he jumped down. Rushing over, Itachi leaned out and stared down at the blond as he landed in a bush and rolled out onto the front lawn. The blond never looked back as he snuck across the lawn onto the sidewalk and disappeared again behind the neighbors trees. What a crazy idiot. Turning away from the window, he picked up his school bag and opened it to start his homework so his night could continue.

That night he dreamed about Deidara.

* * *

R&R


	4. Chapter 4

**Twilight**

**Chapter 4  
**

* * *

Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

* * *

Itachi winced at the bright lights around him, squinting as he tried to see where he was. White walls, white floors, fluorescent lights... it could only be a hospital. He'd been to them many times when his father's hand got out of control. No one would have believed any one's story but the head of police. He was a reckless child, prone to accidents. He hated coming to the hospital, his father hovering over them, not to make sure his eldest was alright, but to make sure he could give excuses to why his son was so beat up. His mother crying next to the bed, soaking up her husband's story and sobbing for Itachi to be more careful. Why was he here now though? He couldn't remember. Through the circle of doctors, nurses and parents, he saw Deidara against the wall, watching everything unfold. His usual arrogance was gone, staring like a deer caught in headlights, a mouse with a hawk near by. Why was he so scared?

His father suddenly turned and saw the blond, his face growing angry with his presence. Itachi tried to sit up, yelling at Deidara to run, but he couldn't move, he couldn't talk and his father stalked after him. Deidara was just as rooted to the spot as he was as Fugaku approached him, grabbing him and slamming his head against the wall, over and over. Itachi squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see, but he could still hear the thud of skull hitting wall. He wouldn't stop!

Itachi's eyes flew open with a start, sitting up slightly in bed. He panted heavily, staring around the room, then glanced at the clock. Fuck... He dropped back onto the bed, placing a hand over his forehead to push his bangs away as they stuck to him in his cold sweat. The thudding didn't stop though. Sitting up, he frowned and glanced towards the window. The hell...

"What the hell are you doing here?" Itachi demanded as he opened his window. "And how did you get up here?" He glanced down briefly, then turned to face the blond teenager. Coincidence? It was odd for him to dream about him then have him show up. Climbing in through his window no less.

"Can I stay here tonight, un?" Deidara asked, slipping his shoes off without touching them and sat down on Itachi's bed.

"...Huh?" Itachi frowned, surprised by the question. The moron expected him to just let him sleep there after all he'd been through? Let him go through his things and take stuff while he slept. "Hell no. Go home!" He pointed at the window again.

"Please?" Deidara asked, the softness in his voice catching him off guard. Reaching over, Itachi turned the dimmed nightstand light on so he could see him.

"You look like shit," he commented, looking him from top to bottom. He was still in the clothes he'd worn earlier, but his hair was disheveled and while he still had the smell he'd had earlier, Itachi could also catch the smell of expensive wine. "Are you drunk?"

Deidara shook his head, rubbing his temple with his fingers. "Not really, un..." he mumbled. "Please can I stay? I don't feel like walking forty five minutes to my house in the dark, your place was closer, un." Deidara could feel Itachi's eyes glance at the clock again, noting it said two am. He could feel the suspicion rising and hear the question before it was spoken.

"Why were you on this side of town so late?" Itachi asked him.

Deidara was quiet for a brief moment, glancing up at him innocently. "Working," he replied vaguely, not really wanting to explain it to him. Instead he reached into his pocket to pull out a bunch of folded bills to show him then put away. He was sure Itachi could figure it out on his own with out his explaining it to him. It wasn't that hard. Apparently Itachi put the money and the smell of wine together fast, a sneer appeared on his face.

"They dont let you spend the night?" he heard him ask with a snicker. Deidara didn't look at him or answer. Mocking was something easily ignored. "Or just too sore to walk home?" Okay, that deserved a glare. Not a response, just a glare. He watched Itachi look down at him with the same arrogance Deidara gave him at times. Itachi couldn't pull it off as well as he could though, he noticed, but it was still annoying. The Uchiha walked around the bed towards the door, leaving him alone in the room. There was a slight moment of panic thinking he was going to sound some alarm that he was there, but it died quickly as he noted the still open window.

Itachi returned a few minutes later with a glass of water and pain relievers. Deidara stared at them, not understanding why Itachi was extending this to him. He glanced up at Itachi's face for an answer to his unspoken question. None was given, so he took the pills and drowned them down with the water.

"You can stay here tonight, but you gotta leave before I do for school," he heard Itachi tell him. That was really early. Deidara cursed silently to himself, wanting to sleep a little more then three or four hours, but the way Itachi spoke sounded like something that would be non negotiable no matter what the circumstances.

The bed shifted under him as Itachi laid back down on his full size four poster bed, complete with extra pillows and blankets like he just stole the bed out of a department store or magazine. Deidara was sure the bed was like clouds to lay on. He'd find out soon enough as he peeled his jacket off and climbed up to lay down on the other side of the bed, leaving a few feet of space between Itachi and himself. Oh yes... just like clouds. One of the most comfortable beds he'd ever been on. He didn't think he'd be able to wake up if he fell asleep on a bed like this and if he did he definitely wouldn't want to get off it. Someone would need to pry him off with a crow bar or something.

"Thanks," he whispered softly, not sure if Itachi had gone back to sleep or not already. When he didn't get a response, he decided he'd fallen asleep so he settled himself down on the comfy bed and let himself drift off, not wanting to waste a minute he could be sleeping.

Itachi glanced back at the blond when he finally fell still, his breath sinking into the even span of sleep. Why had he agreed to let him stay? If his father came in and saw him there... his dream might come true. He should have told him no. Now he was asleep and Itachi didn't really want to wake him up to tell him he changed his mind, not because he was an asshole, but he doubted the blond would believe him if he just came out and told him that his father would beat them into unconsciousness before they could explain themselves. Sliding out of bed, he went to the door and locked it for good measure, crawling back under the covers to face the sleeping blond next to him. Itachi watched him sleep until the night took him into his own fretful sleep, but at least he didn't have that dream again.

When Itachi opened his eyes again, the sun was coming up and his alarm was beeping for him to get up and shower. Rising from the comfortable bed, he stumbled over to his dresser and closet to pull out his clothes for the school day. Suddenly remembering his night time visitor, he glanced first to his door as though he expected his father standing there with Deidara in his hold - the door was still locked, then to the bed to wake up the blond and tell him to hurry and get out - the bed was empty. A piece of paper taped to the now shut window caught his attention as he looked around the room.

'Thanks'

Itachi pulled the paper off the window and read the word again then tossed it into the trashcan next to his desk. He did not understand the blond at all.

Deidara had decided to attend the last couple periods of school. He needed to talk to Itachi. Stat. He hadn't needed it until that day so it's absence had gone unnoticed. He'd left his bag at Itachi's house the day he brought the assignment. That bag had important items in it that he couldn't go for very long without. He hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Itachi in their last period so he hurried to wait at his car for him, perched on the hood of the RX-7 like a sunbather. The warm summer sun fading finally into the comforting chill of autumn. It was peaceful to stay like this; he could have taken a nap on the hood of the car.

"What the hell are you doing on my car?" Peace had been officially shattered.

"Waiting for you, un," Deidara told him, opening his eyes and sitting up to face him. At the patient waiting of the ruby eyes on him, waiting for him to continue, Deidara slid off the car, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. "I left my bag at your place, un," he told him, sliding his lighter into his pocket again.

Itachi waited for more of an explanation, but he was being left with his ability to figure it out on his own. "And you want me to take you to the house so you can get it?" Itachi asked with raised brow.

"That would work, un," Deidara replied, shifting to move to the passenger side of Itachi's car. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Glancing back at Itachi in question, he tilted his head to the side to show his unasked question.

"I'll bring it to your place later." Itachi told him firmly.

Deidara frowned. He needed that bag as soon as possible and later wasn't a good answer. "No, now. I need it. Just swing me by the house, drop me off a few streets down and that's all, un," he told him, shrugging out from under the hand.

Before Itachi had a chance to protest, a car pulled up behind them, stopping behind Itachi's car. Turning to tell whoever moron was blocking him in off for the action, he stopped short when he saw his father get out of the now familiar car. Fugaku approached him, pushing Deidara out of the way like a tree branch in his path and shoved an old dark green messenger bag against Itachi's chest. Stumbling into the car, Itachi's hands automatically moved up to grab the bag against him.

"What the hell is this?" Fugaku snapped at him angrily. "You're bringing drugs in my house now?"

Itachi's eyes widened in confusion. Drugs? What? He glanced down at the bag in his hands then passed his father at Deidara who was eyeing the bag with recognition. The bastard. Fugaku's glance followed Itachi's seeing Deidara for the first time with his arrival. Itachi wasn't sure how it could be, but some form of recognition passed between the two of them. He didn't like it. He must have been seeing things, it was impossible that they know each other. The impossible became possible with a single word from his father.

"You."

Deidara's combat boots made a soft tap against the asphalt as he stepped away from the two of them, a cornered man ready to spring at the right moment. "That's my bag, un," he said with a snap, cornered and fearful as he was, something seemed to spark in him with a spurt of confidence. A taste of that arrogance was returning, though where it came from Itachi hadn't a clue. "Please... may I have my bag back?"

"Carry drugs on school property is illegal," Fugaku commented with an edge to his voice.

"Good thing I didn't carry them on, un," Deidara said. "You did." Itachi wished he could burst out, telling him not to talk back to him. The blond knew who he was, why was he egging him on? The fool. "You also can't arrest me on school ground without a warrant, I'm protected under the city school regulations and even the head of police can't break them, un."

Itachi glanced at his father, watching him struggle with his words. He was trying to find a loophole in his knowledge of the law, but the angry look on his face told him the blond had somehow one-uped his father. The bag was shoved into Deidara's arms, Fugaku looming over the short teenager as he tried to back away but only bumped into someone else's car. "Soon," Itachi heard his father mutter angrily. Deidara didn't bat an eye as the head Uchiha turned away, ordering Itachi to get into the car. Before his son could protest that he could drive himself in his own car, Fugaku repeated himself angrily demanding Itachi to obey. With clenched fists, Itachi went to his fathers car and got in, not looking at Deidara, not glancing wistfully at his car left in the school parking lot.

Deidara watched the car go, a thoughtful look on his face as he watched them turn out onto the street and drive away. When they were out of sight, he opened the bag to make sure everything was still inside. Safe. Good. Fugaku hadn't been smart enough to take anything out once he found it. It had been stupid to leave it in the Uchiha house in the first place, but who could have predicted that he would have had to make a getaway out Itachi's window? One shouldn't have to prepare for such an incidence, but he supposed planning ahead for things would have made better out comes.

He was so bad at planning ahead.

A grey BMW pulled up next to him by Itachi's car where Fugaku had been moments before. The tinted window rolled down causing Deidara to smile at the person inside. Ah, that's right, Mr. BMW wanted his company tonight. Deidara was never good at remembering names of people he met. He remembered them by their cars. That was always the easiest way and they never asked you to remember them, though they told him when they first met. Unfortunately for Mr. BMW, Deidara wasn't in the mood to entertain all night. Going over to the car, he leaned on the window and spoke with the owner of the car. Standing upright, he walked around to get into the passenger's side of the car and they drove off, Deidara deep in thought though he was still paying attention to the driver.

Cutting short his night of entertainment after the sun had gone down, Deidara gave the man a friendly wave as he drove off, leaving him alone on a street where every yards grass was trimmed and cut, no bush or flower was out of order, no one played outside on the pearly white sidewalks after ten. How boring a life like that would be. Deidara was quite happy to be out and about whenever he wanted to be without worrying about what the neighbors would think. His neighbors in the building next to the old apartment building were artists for hire, also known as squatters that worked when they could to their land lord.

Strolling down the street he'd just walked away from early on that morning, Deidara glanced at the houses and the scenery within the windows. People were getting ready for bed, naive to the world that came alive at night, waking up the city with music and neon lights. A pity they wouldn't know it. They might change there ways and not be so stiff with their perfect things. They might forget to trim the grass one week. The light thunk of his boots on the concrete slabs stopped in front of a familiar house with all the lights turned off except for maybe a hall light on the first floor to ward off robbers who might wonder if the house's occupants were home. Another light was on and that was the one he wanted to be on, grinning as he jumped up to grab onto the branches of the tall, thick tree in front of the large house. Carefully crawling onto an outer branch he jumped lightly onto the overhanging roof of the first floor and went over to the lighted window knocking softly on the glass.

He knew what the first question he received would be, sad thing was he didn't have an answer to that either.

"What do you want now?" Itachi asked in a grumble, opening the window once again. "If you're asking for a place to stay the answer's no."

Deidara shook his head and sat on the roof by the window, obviously not welcome in since Itachi didn't open it enough to allow him inside. "I guess I came to apologize for getting you in trouble, un," Deidara told him with a shrug.

"I got myself into trouble letting you come into the house in the first place," Itachi said with a growl, sitting on the window seat and picked up the book he'd been reading.

That was sadly very true. Though Itachi wouldn't have known it before. "My bad," Deidara said more casual then he intended it to sound, receiving a sound smack on the side of his head from Itachi's book. "Hey! Seriously, I didn't mean to get you in trouble..." his voice trailed off as he looked at Itachi, seeing him in the brighter light of his room then he had the last time he was there. Itachi was dressed in light cloth pants for sleeping and a sleeveless muscle shirt, but Itachi's muscles wasn't what caught his attention. Reaching out, he touched the ugly looking bruise on Itachi's jaw. It looked faded and old. Another darker, newer one could be seen under the strap of his shirt. His wrist was grabbed painfully tight to keep it away from Itachi's body. Itachi was glaring at him darkly, looking like he wanted to slam the window down on his arm. "...Are you alright?" Deidara asked quietly, wide eyed.

"I'm fine," Itachi snapped angrily. "Nothing is wrong." He could tell by the look on the blonds face that he wasn't believed. Carefully masking his expression, he looked up at Deidara's eyes, seeing emotions laid out like a book. He was concerned for him. Why? He's spent the previous week trying to make him miserable, and now he was concerned? "Fuck off," Itachi growled at him.

Deidara blinked slowly, his expression making Itachi think he didn't understand what he was saying. Maybe their teacher was confused when he said Deidara was a genius. Itachi was almost ready to shove him off the front porch, but Deidara's voice decided to jump in at the right time. "Why do you let him hurt you, un...?" it said softly.

Itachi didn't say anything, in response to the question, he got up and walked deeper into the room. Deidara watched him, pushing the window open a little more and rest his head on the window sill. The brunette simply put a bookmark into the pages he'd left off on and reached to turn his light out to go to sleep. "I appreciate your concern," came the murmur from the other. "But it's not necessary, go home."

And the light shining out the window went out.

* * *

R&R please


	5. Chapter 5

**Twilight**

**Chapter 5  
**

* * *

Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

* * *

There is no perfect in this world. No perfect life, no perfect house, no perfect boyfriend or girlfriend. Many seem to get this confused with what they believe. They see a person who seems to have a perfect life, but it is only to them and what the object of perfection allows them to see. In reality, the object of perfection might view the viewers life perfect compared to theirs. There is no perfect in this world. Deidara has just learned this.

Slowly walking down the street, his messenger bag slung over his shoulder, Deidara thought over what had gone on the night before. He'd left Itachi's home after his talk with the Uchiha, having been given the cold shoulder by the darkness of the room. He hadn't slept that night, his mind to awake to allow his body to sleep. Uchiha Fugaku was an abusive police officer to those on the street, he had never expected him to be abusive in his own home. To his eldest son... the 'perfect' Uchiha Itachi.

He wasn't sure what to make of all this, how to process this new information he'd discovered. All that time.. those unexplained mysteries of the Uchihas. Itachi wore cover up some times... though it was hard to tell usually. He was absent from school, but always because of some accident. Rumors said Itachi was reckless, a clumsy fool. Deidara wasn't stupid, Itachi wasn't clumsy. No one knew the answer to that though. Itachi didn't have friends in school, no one knew a thing.

"Hey!"

The shout startled him out of his thoughts and over his headphones. Dragging his headphones off of his ears, he turned towards it, seeing the black shiny Mazda pull up to him, driving slowly along side of him. The window rolled down, just like those movies Deidara had seen from the projector room, Uchiha Itachi looked at him from the driver's seat. "Will you get in my car now?" Itachi asked him. "I'd like to speak to you... seriously."

Obediently, Deidara slid into the passenger's side of the pretty car, looking over at Itachi. He was dressed in his school uniform just as Deidara was, both on their way to school, though Itachi was extremely out of his way. They drove on in silence, though they stopped a distance away from the school. Deidara turned to look at Itachi questioningly, but Itachi did it for him, grabbing his collar and pulling him over.

"Don't tell anyone what you saw last night," he growled at him threateningly. He held him as Deidara struggled, forcing him to look him in the eye. Their faces were almost touching with how far Itachi had pulled him over the center console. "I'm serious!" he snapped before Deidara could assure him that he wouldn't.

"Why not, un?" Deidara growled, trying to get away from Itachi, but the Uchiha had a firm grip on his school uniform. "Maybe it'll make it better, un," he added in a soft voice.

"I don't need the pity of a drugged up whore," Itachi snapped, glaring darkly at him. He watched the blond glare, an almost hurt look passed over his eyes before it was gone. Deidara tried to pull out of his grasp again, but Itachi held him tight. A whore was a whore. He leaned forward, kissing him on the lips none too softly. He felt Deidara flinch and struggle in his old, he didn't want it. Itachi let him go. Deidara shrank to the other side of the car, anger seeping from him. He didn't seem to be able to find words to express that anger as Itachi kept a steady gaze.

With a growl that was barely audible, Deidara turned and pushed himself out of the car and onto the street. The door slammed shut with an expression of the anger Deidara had. That amused Itachi, watching him storm away flinging his messenger bag over his shoulder. His blond hair swished behind him as he walked up the street to the school. A picky whore. Maybe he wasn't what he thought. Then again, he didn't offer him money. Itachi sneered at his back.

Nothing was going on that night. A night off of everything, thank god. A night to relax and brood over the idiocy of the rich and the demise of a certain Uchiha.

"Deidara are you just gonna lay there or are you going to help out?"

"Lay here," was the answer.

"At least get off the top of the car while we work on it," was the counter.

Deidara rolled onto his stomach and crawled over to lean over the side of the drivers side to look down at the men working. One was long and tall, skin dark as chocolate and hair that looked like it had gotten stuck in a electrical socket and sprayed with permanent hair spray. The other was the same blue tipped man Itachi had met in the stairwell on his first visit to Deidara's foster home apartment. The blue tipped man looked up at Deidara with a shake of his head, though he was grinning.

"I'm not in your way, un," Deidara told them, though it was directed at the taller man. "Daichi... tell him I'm not in the way, un." He grinned at the childish whining that was coming out of his mouth. He laughed and laid back. "I'm happy with my time off, un," he told them crossing his leg over his knee.

"You're angry, Deidara," the blue tipped man, Daichi said, not looking up from his work. The new Skyline was getting taken apart and put back together. Some parts were added, some replaced. Daichi didn't trust factory products straight away.

"No I'm not," Deidara lied, staring at the concrete ceiling of the garage above them.

He heard a sigh below him and could practically see the taller man glancing at Daichi in disbelief. He wasn't believed. Well, his lie hadn't been that great anyway. He was mad, he hated Itachi for his actions. Daichi could always tell his moods, even when others couldn't. Daichi had taken him in when he was young, he'd known him for eight years now, maybe that was how he knew. The other probably could tell because Deidara had come to the garage after school and brushed his teeth ten times since he'd been home. That'd probably clue him in.

"Deidara what kind of car is this?" Daichi's calm voice asked from under the hood.

"Skyline, un, why?" Deidara asked, rolling back onto his stomach to look at him. Daichi made an 'uh huh?' noise, signaling he wanted more information. Daichi knew more about cars then anyone Deidara had met, why was he asking him this kind of question? "G35 GTR, un," he replied finally.

"Come look at the engine," Daichi said, his voice was slightly sloshy, he must have put a new piece of candy in his mouth. Daichi had a sweet tooth worse then he did. He lifted his head up, looking over at Deidara. The blond almost questioned his gaze, but didn't. It would have been pointless, and a waste of breath, he already knew what he was trying to do. Daichi was the calmest person he'd ever met. He had a knack for knowing just how to calm someone's anger... or at least make them forget it for a while.

Deidara slid off the top of the car and hopped down to the concrete ground. The tall man glanced at the other mechanic and shook his head and walked away. Smart man. Deidara didn't like him very much, he was much better at doing things when he was getting paid. Daichi worked on cars because he liked working on cars. He'd passed that on to Deidara, which was why he had told the blond to come over to the engine.

Standing on his combat boot toes, Deidara leaned over the engine and watched Daichi work, answering the questions Daichi drilled him with, listening when he explained something he didn't know. Daichi guessed right, as usual. Within the hour Deidara had forgotten about Itachi.

Everything was dark. There were no lights up on these mountains. The road was big enough for two lanes only, one going towards the top, the other towards civilization. The speed limit was fifteen miles an hour, around the curves it was only five or ten, depending on the curve. Few came up this way because of the road it's self, it's curving manner was a death trap waiting to happen. If you went too fast, you'd go over the side of the road. Unless of course you knew how to handle your car. But how many people think they can handle their car. Think being the key word.

The roads were normally empty, people tended to take the main roads and not this dangerous back road. There were houses dotted on the mountain side; great big houses where the rich came to hide away from life. No one ever saw them, but wasn't that the point? There was never anyone on this road normally. Normally.

Tonight the road wasn't empty, two spots of headlights were winding down, the gracefulness of the drifting was startling, even to the untrained eye. Deidara came up here to ride his bike, practice the dangerous skills he loved to show off – mostly to the police, but an audience is and audience. It wasn't his lights on the road. It caused a frown to spread on his face as he pulled up to the start of the winding road, cutting the light on his bike and tucked it safely away and out of sight. His gaze followed the lights as the slipped around the lanes. This driving was amazing, he wasn't even up close to see and he could tell.

He hid in the trees, taking off his helmet and set it down on the ground. Creeping up to the road so he could see the car as it drove by he watched it slide and squeal down the road, coming to a stop at the bottom of the street where the danger had passed and the road panned out into a real road... a safe road.

Deidara's eyes widened a little... then squinted, unbelieving. No way. There were lots of other cars like that on the road, but as the door opened of the sleek black Mazda, Uchiha Itachi stepped out and looked back up at the road he'd just come down, surveying it from afar. Satisfied, he got back in the RX-7 and drove away, a cloud of dust slowly settling in his wake.

"No fucking way..." Deidara said, stepping out and glancing back at the mountain road.

There is always a student in a school that is known for lateness. Known for uncaring about lateness and their grade overall. So it would be a natural shock for any teacher that has taught a student such as this to be standing on the front steps nearly forty-five minutes before classes began. With a muffin and a juice box from the morning cafeteria no less. A few of the more fantasizing teachers were thrilled at this new turn of leaf from the blond terror that lurked in their classrooms when he deemed them worthy to attend. Some thought they must be seeing things. Not enough espresso in their coffee drink that morning. Most just thought he was up to something. He normally was.

Bringing explosives to school was illegal, setting them off in school was even worse. No one had gotten hurt except for one dramatic child who decided that the gym wall blowing up was a terrorist attack and since he hadn't wanted to be taken hostage had thrown himself in front of a falling vending machine. It hadn't killed him, but many wished it had. Stupidity like that shouldn't be allowed to walk free. Everyone knew who it was. Unfortunately no one had proved that yet. Things still got blown up – usually a vending machine with the suspects particularly favorite juice drink in it or perhaps the candy filled machine, but no one could find any proof that Awai Deidara had anything to do with any of the incidents. The tracks were to well covered up.

Tracks needed to learn to be covered up. If they weren't, you were dead. More like in jail, but that can be the same thing to some people. Drug dealing, street racing, explosives, breaking and entering and of course that which was happily labeled by Deidara's current thorn in his side whoring. It all needed to be covered up. He'd been doing it for a long time now, you get better and more creative as you go.

Deidara was not covering his tracks standing on the steps of the city's high school waiting. He was putting himself in the middle of a one way tunnel to get run over. No one was tracking him though, he was doing the tracking. Prey with predictable habits were easy to catch. It was not worth risking going into their house, to their known territory. No. You go the place you know they will be on your time, your spot, your rules. Sadly he didn't get to pick any of this because the school made the time and place and most certainly wanted their rules to be in order. Maybe he had that one at least.

"If I didn't know any better I would have thought you were waiting for me," Itachi said narrowing his eyes as he approached the school steps. In a sea of dark hair and dark eyed Japanese teenagers, a blond with blue eyes was easy to catch staring at him the whole walk from his car to the school. He stopped in front of Deidara and looked down at him, the seemingly permanent scowl on his face deepening when the staring didn't stop. "What do you want?"

"Who taught you to drive?" was all Deidara asked him.

Itachi looked confused and a little startled at the question. "Some shriveled up old man from driving school," he replied. Apparently that wasn't the answer Deidara had been looking for because his eyes narrowed into a scowl.

"Who taught you how to rip the e brake at the right moment when you hit a curve and accelerate so out of control you know you're in control, un?" Deidara asked, taking a step up towards him. "Who taught you how to drive like you did on the mountain last night, un?" His blue eyes were sharp as knives, demanding answers.

"You were watching me?" Itachi asked with a sly smirk. Deidara hated his amusement, his mouth still feeling dirty from his kiss. "How touching." He snickered as quietly as he walked around him and into the school, hearing Deidara's stammering reproach, trying to defend himself. He was not watching him like one of Itachi's fan girls that followed him everywhere, cooing over his every movement. A glare bore into the back of Itachi's uniform as he disappeared through the glass doors of the school. He would get an answer from him. His driving was amazing. Almost as good as Daichi's... nah. No one was as good as Daichi.

What had he told himself about the Uchiha house? Something about not going there again. Too risky. Mr. Top-gun-head-of-police Uchiha would have been thrilled with the opportunity to catch him, lock him in jail and throw away the key. Police weren't allowed to shoot anyone unless the suspect pulled a weapon on them. But who says a pen can't look like a knife, or a pear can't look like a grenade? Officer Uchiha would mostly likely come up with some excuse to be able to shoot him at least once. He was that kind of asshole.

A sudden thought came to him as he sat on the grass where his second period art class was sketching trees. Wouldn't it be so much fun to sneak right under his nose? Deidara always liked the thrill of a challenge.

What had he told himself about the Uchiha house? Must have convinently slipped his mind...


	6. Chapter 6

**Twilight**

**Chapter 6  
**

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Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

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Hot water felt fantastic against his sweaty body as he stepped into the school showers to wash off after Track. Itachi had been on the team since he'd began high school. In the winter months when there wasn't any track he played Basketball, though not as diligently as he ran Track. Basket ball was a hobby for him. He loved to run in Track. He loved where his mind went while he was running, no worries, no restraints, just the free feeling of his body cutting through the wind and his muscles pushing themselves to their limits.

After he had dried himself off, he pulled on the warm pants, tank top, shirt and sweater. It was getting colder out. As hot as the summer had been, winter was hitting then before autumn had a chance to peek it's head in and say hello. He didn't want his muscles to cramp after the workout today, nor did he like the cold in particular. In fact, he hated the cold. He even hated when the air conditioning was on in the summer. A nice fan set on low to move the air around did the job just fine. The ride home from school took a little longer then usual, he let the car heat up so it was nice and warm inside while he got coffee from the cafeteria that stayed open in case the school's athletes wanted anything for the ride home.

The voices in the kitchen when he arrived home told him Sasuke had a friend over. That was fine, so long as Sasuke didn't expect him to entertain the two of them. Itachi hated socializing. His entry into the kitchen for a snack earned Sasuke's 'friend' a curse from the older Uchiha as he turned on his heal to walk back out again.

"Oh, and I thought you'd be pleased to see me, un," Deidara said, sitting at the kitchen counter with Sasuke, a few sandwiches between them and mugs of what smelled like hot chocolate. The blond had a mischievous twinkle in his eye Itachi did not like. Not two hours ago all Itachi was receiving was glares from the blond. Well, he supposed he'd deserved them by the end of the day. When Deidara decided to show up to all his classes, Itachi had found that he passed him at least four times in the hallway. After Deidara's initial reaction to his kiss two days ago, Itachi found teasing the hot headed blond entertaining. Especially since his reactions in a crowded hallway were highly amusing. He'd stopped after Deidara had elbowed Itachi quite hard in the ribs for puffing softly behind his ear, so the blond had been safe from torment in gym.

"Not here," Itachi said, eyes narrowing as he glanced into the kitchen again. "Not with my brother." Sasuke still didn't seem to understand what the big deal and problem was with Deidara. It appeared on his face as he started to speak but was silenced by a look from Itachi. "You. Upstairs now," he said to the blond, pointing to the stairs.

Deidara gave him a suspicious look, but slid off the counter stools, picking up two uneaten sandwiches and his mug and walked upstairs with Itachi to his room. He went in when Itachi, deciding it was useless to tell him he didn't eat in his room, opened the door for him. Deidara sat down on the bed and crossed his legs. Itachi leaned against his desk and watched him eat another sandwich, then drink the hot chocolate in his hands slowly as though savoring each drop.

There were many things he could ask Deidara, but he knew the blond would say something smart if he didn't word his question right. He thought about it for a minute or two, but Deidara spoke first. The blond seemed to see the questions building up and sorting behind his eyes with a glance over his cup. "Three, un," he told him, going back to his drink.

"What?" Itachi asked, not understanding his statement.

"You can ask me three questions," Deidara replied, picking up the last sandwich from his knee where it had been placed to wait for its ultimate demise. He ate hungrily then sipped the chocolate again. It suddenly appeared to Itachi that the blond was very cold. Maybe he liked the cold as much as he did. He didn't look under dressed with his school uniform on underneath a heavy looking hoodie.

"What do you want with my brother and me?" Itachi asked him, crossing his arms over his chest. He waited, but the blond seemed to be doing the same thing, staring at him over the rim of the panda bear mug Itachi used. Sasuke must have thought Deidara was his friend to let him use his mug. That was a little irritating. It was his mug. Deidara made a gesture in his direction, noting that he wanted him to ask the other questions before answering them. "Why do you want to know where I learned to drift and why don't you like it that I kissed you?"

Deidara snorted in distaste into the mug making it echo slightly. He drank the rest of it, looking down at the empty mug a little sadly before answering. "The first two questions have answers that are the same. I don't like that you kissed me because you thought I was just like those slutty girls that follow your ever footstep and would swoon if you even looked at one of them longer then two seconds."

That made Itachi smirk a little. "A whore with an ego," he commented, looking right at him when he said it. He saw the anger flash briefly, but it was gone, Deidara was staring at his mug again. His anger was gone, but he hadn't liked the title. "And the other answer?"

"I want nothing to do with your brother, un," Deidara replied, setting the mug down on the night stand. "I enjoy talking to him. He doesn't know who I am and therefore isn't tied down by what he's heard. I want to know where you learned to drift because I can count the times I've seen someone drive like that on my fingers. What I want with i _you /i _," Deidara told him, "is to know where you learned. My boss would like meeting you."

"What boss?" Itachi asked, frowning a little. Deidara didn't seem the type to have a boss for anything. "Your client manager?" he offered with a smirk.

Deidara narrowed his eyes, noting the slide insult, but there was a crude smirk on his face. "No my other profession," he told him.

"Drug dealing," Itachi stated.

Still Deidara shook his head, his smirk turning into the most boyish grin Itachi'd ever seen. It threw all his feminine features out of wack, but looked oddly right on his face. "He's not really my boss, un," Deidara admitted with a shrug. "Most people call him their boss. I do what he wants and he gives me a home."

"The apartment?" Itachi asked, tilting his head to the side slightly. "I thought that place was owned by the city."

"It is," Deidara said. "Thats where I stay, but my home is somewhere else." He could see Itachi's confusion, trying to silently work that out in his head. Deidara watched him, waiting expectingly to see if he came to any conclusions. He hadn't, but he was pleased when he spoke.

"I saw street racers when I was younger," Itachi told him, shrugging like it wasn't important. "My father hated them – naturally, but I was fascinated by the way they handled their cars and drifted around the curves. Ever since I could drive I've been practicing it."

"You taught yourself, un?"

Itachi nodded, noting the look of disbelief on the blond's face, but the subject was dropped. He wondered if he stared at the blond if he'd get so uncomfortable he'd leave, but somehow he doubted the blond thought that way. Instead, he picked up his homework books and went to the other side of the bed, laying down on his stomach and opened them. When Deidara questioned what he was doing, Itachi simply responded that he had homework and Deidara knew the way out.

Deidara didn't leave, but Itachi tuned his presence out of his mind quite efficiently. He was nearly finished when he rubbed his eyes and glanced over at the clock to see if it was around dinner time when he noticed the blond was still there, but he was asleep, curled up on the bed to take up as little space as possible – or maybe he was just trying to stay warm.

He finished his homework without bothering to wake the blond up. He didn't want grief and grief he would get if he woke the temperamental blond up. It wasn't until his stomach made it's self known in the form of a grumble like an old man complaining about his aches did he realize how late it was. AP Chemistry and Advanced Psychology was still open in front of him, staying flat on the bed by their sheer weight. He'd been staring off out the window lost in thought and hadn't put them away. Fugaku was home. He could hear Sasuke chattering about how he was the top student in his year, with a slip of paper to prove it. He'd be coming up to question him on the Track test that afternoon, a test that would make the placements for the championship team.

Fugaku was home.

Deidara was still here.

"Shit," he said sharply, jumping up from leaning on his elbows to sitting on his knees. "Hey! Wake up!" he whispered urgently, shaking Deidara's shoulder rougher then he intended. He heard the beginnings of a groan of complaint, but Itachi silenced it with a quick hand over his mouth. Deidara struggled, but stopped when Itachi shook his head, whispering frantically. "My father's home."

Deidara made a questioning noise, but stopped struggling. Holding still and silent they could hear Fugaku talking to Sasuke, then turn and start to climb up the stairs. Deidara struggled out of Itachi's arms, most likely to bolt for a hole to crawl into, but Itachi's was the first door on the right. It was open before Itachi could let go of Deidara's mouth completely.

The silence in the room was almost thick enough to swim in. No one moved. No one was stupid enough to move. Fugaku was the one who broke through the silence.

"What is this?" A simple question. Simple, but terribly weighed down by the glare of the head Uchiha.

"Tutoring," Itachi said, saying the first thing that came to mind. Deidara knew a glance at Itachi would give away the lie so he continued watching Fugaku with an innocent grin on his face.

"Bullshit." Fugaku walked into the room and picked up the book Itachi had open on the bed. AP Chemistry. "He couldn't pass common Algebra let alone fucking Chemistry!" Deidara jumped out of the way as the book was tossed back onto the bed. Fugaku caught his arm and yanked him none too gently off the bed. "What the hell do you think you're doing in my house?" he nearly spat at Deidara.

"Nothing_ illegal _," Deidara snapped back, not backing down. "Get off me!" Itachi grimaced as the attempted struggle rewarded the blond with a twist of the arm to make him fall to the floor.

"No," Fugaku sneered down at him. "Nothing_ illegal _, but we can fix that can't we?"

Itachi's eyes widened. The thought of his father lying about something the blond had done just to get him arrested made him jump to his feet. "He's not doing anything!" Itachi snapped, glaring darkly at his father.

"You stay out of this," Fugaku growled at him warningly. Glancing down at the blond who'd been trying to regain his footing, he gave his arm a tug to make him fall back down as he knelt down in front of him. Deidara froze, glaring up at the Uchiha so darkly Itachi wasn't sure who was emanating the most hate from their eyes. "Are you trying to get busted?" Fugaku demanded in a low frighteningly cold voice.

"Why would I do something that stupid, un?" Deidara spat back. "I'm studying with Itachi. Nothing you need to be concerned with, un." He twisted around and swung his leg out to kick Fugaku, but the leg was grabbed by his free hand. When it let go it came down across the blond's cheek with the sickening sound of fist hitting skull.

Itachi stared in horror. He'd never seen his father attack someone who hadn't done anything wrong – besides himself. Deidara hadn't done anything. Well, maybe today, but still. Deidara was trying his hardest to keep a straight face, an unfaltering glare, but it was clear the hit had hurt and he hadn't expected it. Fugaku stood and turned to drag Deidara out of the room, not allowing him to catch his footing.

He was stopped at the top of the stairs when Itachi moved in front of him. "He didn't do anything wrong," Itachi stated firmly, glaring at his father. Abusing him was one thing, but beating on someone else he couldn't stand. "He'll leave, Father, let him go!"

"Get out of my way," Fugaku ordered coldly. "Now Itachi!" Sasuke was watching from the kitchen arch, wide eyed and fearful. Itachi wished he'd at least waited until Sasuke'd been in his room.

"No!" Itachi glared, grabbing onto the rail to keep himself steady as Fugaku shoved passed him. It knocked his arm off the banister, but he grabbed Deidara to pull him back, around the waist so they didn't rip his arms off by accident. "He's... He's my friend," Itachi fished. That sounded almost ridiculous with everything that had happened between them. Deidara had given a look as Fugaku stopped, signifying he was having similar thoughts of disbelief Itachi had said that.

"Let go, Itachi," Fugaku warned. When Itachi didn't let go, Fugaku shoved him off, yanking Deidara away from him hard enough to send the blond down the steps to land in a groaning mess on the ground. Itachi tried to go down the steps but Fugaku shoved him into the wall. "Do not interfere with me."

Giving Itachi a shove to the stairs, Fugaku descended them to approach Deidara who was scrambling to his feet to get to the front door. Grabbing the blond once more by the back of his shirt, he dragged him through the living room to the kitchen to make him leave through the back door, ignoring the little noises of pain Deidara was making from the small handfuls of hair he'd managed to grab in the process.

"You come in this house again and I'll shoot you," Fugaku warned as he reached for the door handle. He was stopped by a hand wrenching his own away from Deidara and a heavy fist connecting to the back of his head. Itachi pulled Deidara to his feet and away from his father, shoving the keys to the Mazda into his hand.

"Get my brother out of here," Itachi said in response to Deidara's bewildered look. "Please... just get him out of here and keep him safe." Sasuke started to protest from where he'd been ducking behind the counter, but Itachi grabbed the both of them and hurried them through the house and shoved them out the front door.

Deidara was still standing a little bewildered at the front door as Sasuke moved to storm back to it and insist that Itachi come with them, but Itachi locked the door behind them. Deidara was a little beside himself and had a horribly painful headache to boot. Everything had happened so fast it was hard to collect his thoughts enough to move. He was brought back to earth by Sasuke grabbing him and giving him a good shake.

"Go get my brother!" he said louder then necessary.

"Go get in the car Sasuke," Deidara told him, pushing the unlock button for Itachi's car.

"Not without-"

"I KNOW," Deidara snapped, glaring darkly at him. "I heard you. The whole damn city heard you. Get in the fucking car." Reaching down he picked up his bag he'd left behind the rose bush and slung it over his shoulder. He learned from his mistakes and didn't want to leave it in the house again. Jumping off the porch, he climbed up into the tree he'd used to climb into Itachi's bedroom and did it again. It didn't take long to find Itachi's lighter – and his cigarettes which he tucked into his pocket with a few loose bills on the desk he couldn't help but pocket – and went out to creep down the stairs.

Fugaku and Itachi were fighting, but it was hard to see who was doing the physical and verbal strikes. It looked like both, but he watched Fugaku get a hold on the back of Itachi's neck and slam his head down onto the granite counter in the kitchen. The sound made Deidara cringe as Itachi slipped rather limply onto the floor. A quick glance around found Fugaku's gun holster on the back of the living room sofa. He had taken it off and draped it there to collect and put away after talking to his sons. Without thinking, Deidara pulled the gun out, lighter still in hand while the other slipped into his bag.

"Back off, un!" Deidara said, going into the kitchen, gun raised as he clicked the safety off. The click could be heard quite well in the sudden silence of the room. Fugaku had frozen in the process of reaching down to grab Itachi who had shifted only to hold his head from where he'd kissed the counter.

It had been a chance to use the gun. He didn't even know if it was loaded, or if Fugaku had done what ever parent who owned a gun should do and took the ammunition out to avoid their children blowing holes in walls or people because they dont know any better. The stillness of the Uchiha either meant he'd forgotten if he had, or it was loaded. Deidara was hoping for the latter, but if he had indeed taken it out... well that was what the lighter and little ball in his other hand were for.

"Ha!" Fugaku suddenly sneered at him. "You've never held a gun before in your life let alone shot someone. Put the gun down before you hurt your--" He was cut off with a jumping start as Deidara fired the gun against the cabinet near Fugaku's leg. Paint ball counted as firing guns right? These balls just hurt a little more.

"I said back off," Deidara repeated, glaring darkly at Fugaku as he finally backed away from Itachi to the other side of the room. Why was he doing this? He did not need another reason for this man to want him dead. He didn't think he'd be able to walk away from this though. Good lord was that what they call a conscious? Ew, he hoped now.

Itachi was getting up on his own, though he looked as though he wasn't seeing completely straight. His eyes moved from his father to Deidara, looking surprised. He muttered that he had told the blond to leave. "Yeah, yeah, but your brother wouldn't stop screaming at me, un," Deidara snapped at him. "Can you walk?"

Itachi tried, but he wobbled onto his knees again. "I think I can crawl," he replied with a mutter. He did so, moving closer to Deidara who smirked, dropping the gun on the floor between them and Fugaku who was glaring at the two of them, daring Itachi with his eyes to actually leave. The look turned startled to see the gun on the floor, then suspicious as he stared at Deidara.

The blond was smirking and he'd worked out that it wasn't a good thing. A step was taken closer to the gun, but Deidara was faster, flicking the lighter on and lighting the little string dangling from the ball. It sizzled and sparked, but Deidara tossed it near the gun and grabbed Itachi and shoved him into the living room as the bomb went off.

Itachi couldn't even tell what it was except that it made a loud noise and the force of it knocked them both to the ground. Deidara had been on top of him like a shield, but he didn't think it was intended. Through the chaos he heard glass breaking and the thudding of heavy things knocking against things. His mother was going to have a heart attack. She'd just cleaned the kitchen floor yesterday.

A groan murmured softly on top of him, making him lift his head up despite the sudden dizziness. Deidara was sitting up too, twisting his back cautiously like he was worried it would hurt if he moved too much. The blond noticed Itachi looking at him and stopped, together they crawled over to the front door. Using the wall as a brace they stood up, Itachi unlocked the door and they hurried out. Hurried wouldn't be the word normally used, but they moved as fast as they could to Itachi's car where Sasuke was having a fit. Itachi didn't even argue when Deidara got into the driver's seat, maybe he valued his car more then his ego. They were several streets away when one of them spoke.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked his brother quietly, reaching up to tenderly touch his head, but Itachi pulled away, knowing it would hurt to be touched. It hurt to move.

"I'm fine," Itachi murmured, closing his eyes for a moment before forcing himself to sit up. He glanced at his brother then at Deidara driving with his eyes intent on the road as though he knew how to drive but wasn't fond of it. Bike rider. "Sasuke give him directions to your friends house."

"But--"

"Just do it... please," Itachi said, not wanting to argue. It required too much thinking. Sasuke was silent then obeyed, giving Deidara the directions then let the car lapse into silence once more until they arrived at the new house.

"Sasuke..."

"Yeah Itachi?" Sasuke'd been in the process of walking up to the house, but stopped to turn back to the car.

"Be safe," Itachi said, trying to look better then he felt, offering him a smile. He wanted to say something a little better then that, something to make his brother feel better. Make the situation better, but he couldn't. Sasuke knew all about what was happening at home. No one else did. Well Deidara did, but that was it.

"Where are we going?" Itachi asked softly, slouching in his seat. He felt like he was going to pass out. That wasn't a good sign.

"My place," Deidara replied, swallowing as he turned a corner sharply, pulling up the E brake to drift into the turn. He knew how to drive, just hadn't driven a car in a while. As his confidence grew, so did his speed. He wanted to get as far away from the Uchiha house as fast as he could.

"Your 'home' or the apartment?" Itachi asked, turning his head to look at him. The blond was a nice none movable thing to look at. Everything else was making him feel nauseous as the car peeled by at a steady 130.

"You're not ready to see my home, un," Deidara answered with a little smile. "You need to be conscious to appreciate it's awesomeness."

Itachi tried to snicker a little at that, unable to think of anything a poorer then dirt street kid could have that he would think was 'awesomeness', but the pain in his head made him fight it back. He continued to watch Deidara drive, racing against an invisible racer to pull to a stop in an alley way behind the apartment building Itachi had been to once before. Maybe he was just that out of it, but he didn't see Deidara get out of the car and come over to help him out but he had. He didn't think Deidara was strong enough to half aid, half carry him up the stairs, but he did. Maybe he had help. Voices were starting to sound far off, he couldn't decipher one voice from another. They hadn't even reached the second landing and Itachi knew he was going to pass out. The world was already fading into black around him.

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R&R


	7. Chapter 7

**Twilight**

**Chapter 7  
**

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Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

**Sorry about the wait! I thought I'd already posted this chapter!!**

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It brightened dimly several times, but he couldn't tell if it had been a few minutes or days. It was night time the first time, the light of a cigarette caught hit eye. He wanted one. Blackness. Voices were speaking softly, a cool cloth on his forehead. They should get a doctor. No that wouldn't be good. He could be badly injured. I don't want the police to find him yet. Blackness. 

When he awoke next the blackness didn't come again. He waited for it, but it didn't come. He could hear right. There was a ceiling above him. He could see clearly. A glance around told him he was laying on a very low bed. Itachi started to move his head to look around more, but a headache stopped him. He waited for the initial pain to stop before trying again.

The room was bare of furniture except for the mattress on the floor and a plain old dresser that looked stolen from someone's yard sale, maybe it had. Everything else was bare of things, though covered in graffiti and other things that could be called artistic. He pieced together where he was and settled back to search for the room's usual occupant. He found him sitting next to the bed, knees drawn to his chest, head resting on his knees. Sound asleep.

Questions raced through his mind. How long had he been out? Where was Sasuke? Did his mother find out? Was she having hysterias because she didn't know where her eldest was? Many others. Itachi wasn't feeling very kind today.

"Deidara!" he said just under a shout, loud noises made his head echo like it was hollow, but it got the desired effect. The blond startled out of his sleep, lifting his head up like it took every ounce of effort in him to do it, and glanced at him. Itachi started to rail off his questions, but they didn't seem to be hitting home.

"You're awake, un," Deidara said sleepily. Very much not a morning person. Wait, was it morning?

"What time is it?" Itachi asked, not even attempting to sit up. He wasn't stupid. Too many nights in the hospitals made him very smart when injured. He didn't feel anything broken or aching, just his head.

Deidara shrugged sleepily and stretched. "I dunno," he mumbled. "You've been out all night, I guess the sun should be up soon." He glanced at the window with a look of despise. He did not want the sun to rise that day.

"Only a few hours?" Itachi repeated. Lucky him. He watched Deidara nod sleepily then crawl onto the bed with him to lay down on the mattress, obviously thinking that if Itachi had woken up he didn't have to sleep on the floor curled up in a ball anymore. Itachi watched him, glad he was keeping to himself on the bed, giving him lots of room. He reached carefully into his pocket to pull out his cell phone. Even the mini screen light on the front of his phone hurt his eyes a little, but he could see that it was six in the morning. More then a few hours then. Fugaku had come home from work around six thirty. He let his hand drop down, closing his eyes to welcome the darkness his lids made. "Why?"

"Why what?" Deidara mumbled sleepily.

"Why did you help us?" Itachi said softly. Us. Where was Sasuke? Had Fugaku found him? Or did his friend's parents call Mikoto to tell him where he was? He wanted answers, but looking at Deidara, he didn't think the blond was up for answering lots.

"I am human you know, un," Deidara said, mumbling into the thin blankets on the bed. It made Itachi miss his big comfy bed at home. Deidara had brought him to his own house to stay and recover. He was thankful, so he pushed the thoughts of his bed out of his mind.

"I thought you hated me," Itachi said with a week grin that was trying to smirk.

"I dislike you to the uttermost level, un," Deidara responded, obviously exhausted and not functioning enough to talk. There was a moment's paused before Deidara raised his head to look at him sleepily. "No one could just leave that behind and not do anything, un," he told him, glancing down at the bed between them. "You had a nasty knock on your head, but a friend of mine's a doctor and he came to look at you and said you don't have any bad damage, un."

"Oh, that's good," Itachi said, reaching up to touch his head. There was a small bump where his skull had hit the counter, nothing more. "What about you?" he asked, suddenly remembering the damage the blond had received. Itachi had never seen his father lash out at anyone other then himself. Maybe he did it on the job, but never... Fugaku must hate Deidara more then he thought after seeing them together in the parking lot. Why? Deidara certainly had a smart mouth on him, the kind his father hated, but still...

"I've had worse," was the only answer he received. Itachi started to question him further, but the blond had fallen asleep on the bed. A thought of exasperation crossed his mind; Deidara was always sleeping, but then he remembered what time it was. He'd stayed up late enough to make sure Itachi was going to live and didn't need hospitalization. He was probably exhausted.

When Itachi woke up again the sun was pouring into the window of Deidara's room. His head felt better, but he couldn't imagine what had woken him until he heard the familiar beep of his phone as the rings stopped and the answering machine came on for the person calling. As he watched his phone beeped again signaling someone had left a message. Picking up the phone he found he had ... eleven missed calls. Shit. They were all his mother. No wait... Mom. Mom. Mom. Sasuke. Mom. Mom. Sasuke. Home. Home. Mom. Mom. He swallowed, a guilty knot tightening in his stomach. He hated making his mother worry so much.

A press of a button had him listening to the messages they had left. Both worried sick, both wanting to know where he was, both wanting to know if he was okay. After the fifth call, his mother told him she just wanted to hear from him to make sure he was alright. So worried. It made him feel sick to his stomach that he made her worried beyond tears. Her voice went from concerned to frantic to crying to a silent frantic in her calls. Without bothering to listen to the last four messages from her, he called Mikoto's cell phone.

"Itachi?"

"Yeah, mom... sorry I didn't answer your calls... I was asleep," Itachi said softly, listening to the relief seeping out into her voice.

"Oh, baby, I was so worried about you! I wish you had called or told Sasuke where you were going!" Mikoto said, voice distressed, but not angry with him. He didn't think his mother could get very angry with anyone. "Something exploded in the kitchen! I thought you were hurt."

"No, mom I'm fine," Itachi assured her, closing his eyes. "And... I'm not a baby," he added in an undertone.

"Where are you? Do you need me to get you?"

"No I have my car," Itachi told her. "I'm at a friend's house. We were doing school work here and fell asleep."

There was silence on the other end. He had a feeling that Mikoto knew exactly where his school books were in his room. She'd probably came in to see if he was home, put his school books away on his desk then hurried out to search for him. He didn't like keeping secrets from his mother, it was pointless anyway. He swore Mikoto could read minds. Even over the phone. It was not a pleasant thing to know your mother had such an ability, but thankfully his mother knew that if he had to lie about it, then he was either too embarrassed to tell her, or would tell her later. "Okay, sweetheart," Itachi rolled his eyes. Nicknames. "When are you coming home?"

He checked his phone for the time. "Before dinner," he told her. It was already noon.

"Who's your friend?" Mikoto asked innocently. There was an air of grinning curiosity from her.

"Some one from school," he replied blankly. Not giving anything away. Deidara wasn't anything personal to him. Nor did he think he ever would be, but if he was his love life wasn't any of her business. Yet.

"Why don't you invite them over for dinner?" she said, the sound of water running came through her end, she must be cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. "I think we'll be eating in the living room though, the dining room is a bit of a mess."

"I'm sorry about the mess.."

"Oh it's not your fault sweetheart!" Mikoto said with a little laugh. If only she knew...

"Um.. father doesn't like my friend, un," Itachi said softly, in a last attempt. It wasn't that he didn't want Deidara to come, he just didn't want trouble for Mikoto.

"Oh your father's going away this afternoon on a business trip for a few days," Mikoto said casually. "He wasn't in that great of a mood when he left, something about work yesterday."

"Oh... well... I'll ask him," Itachi assured her, wondering if Deidara would want to go back there. He said his goodbyes to his mother and hung up. He sighed as he laid back on the bed. Okay... It wasn't as uncomfortable as he thought after he'd been laying in it all night. A glance around told him Deidara wasn't in the room. What day was it? Saturday. Not at school... He sat up slowly, pleased to find he could. His head wasn't spinning, just throbbing a little.

The door opened making him start a little, but settled back down when he saw Deidara entering. There were a few others with him, boys.. er.. men... teenagers? He didn't know. He didn't care. Deidara was telling him to be quiet as they entered, but noticed Itachi sitting up. A smile came on his face when he saw him. Relief? Pleased? Neither of them seemed right on his face while looking at himself.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," a boy behind Deidara called, several cat calls and comments of beauty sleep followed. Itachi just glared at them dimly, unable to muster enough muscle strength to make a real glare.

"Come on Dei," the tallest wrapped an arm around Deidara's waist, leaning in to him, but Deidara stepped out as though he'd been nudging Deidara forward and not trying for something else.

"I brought breakfast... or well lunch I guess, un," Deidara said, moving over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress, handing Itachi a white and red bag from McDonald's. Ugh. Itachi made the little voice repeat over and over that it was the thought that counted.

"Thanks," Itachi said, sitting against the wall for support. The smell from the bag was good though. Hash browns, hot cakes. No sausage thank god. Itachi didn't trust their sausages. He was hungry, but he really needed - "oh, thanks," Itachi said, startled when Deidara held out a cigarette for him to take, lighting his own then offered the lighter to Itachi. "You didn't have to do this for me..."

"I know that," Deidara said eating into his own bag of food. He'd gone for the lunch menu instead of breakfast. A few small cheese burgers and a enormous order of fries. And a milkshake. Couldn't forget the milkshake. "I was told you had to eat and drink when you woke up, un. It'd made you feel better." He shrugged a little and fell silent as the others sat down around the floor, some almost obnoxiously close to Deidara.

There were four of them. They introduced themselves as Deidara's brothers. When he inquired, Itachi learned that they weren't blood related, or even lawfully related. They were all orphans or runaways that had been brought here to live just as Deidara had. They stuck together and supported one another in the house – though they weren't _that_ close. Itachi could tell that with the way the one kept trying to get Deidara to sit on his lap and feed him. Deidara ignored him completely, moving over to sit down closer to the bed away from him. He looked angry, giving Deidara a look that Itachi didn't understand, but Deidara responded with an unblinking stare himself. The other was the first to look away. The other three seemed to pick it up and teased Deidara, their voices mixing together with the headache Itachi had so he couldn't decipher everything said.

"Fuck off," Deidara finally growled, glaring at them. They laughed at that, waving their hands as though to ward his anger off. "Go away." Itachi was surprised they did, but he supposed it was Deidara's room after all. He could tell them to leave if he wanted too.

There was a long moment of silence between the two of them. Itachi finished his breakfast, Deidara his lunch, though the blond was savoring his milkshake, one sip at a time. "It's cold out," Itachi stated, suddenly noting the chilled wind squeezing through the broken panels in the window. His body had warmed the bed up while he'd slept, the thin blankets he had over top sheltering himself from it a little bit, but Deidara was drinking a milkshake. He looked at Deidara pointedly so he'd known what he was talking about, not just the weather.

"I like milkshakes, un," Deidara said, pouting at him. Pouting. Like really pouting. Itachi almost laughed at the expression on his face, but he didn't. Instead of laughing, he drank some of his soda Deidara had brought him. Water was better for him, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Why are you doing all this?" Itachi suddenly asked, crossing his arms over his stomach. "Why did you come back inside yesterday?"

Deidara glanced over at him, straw in his mouth with a fry in the other hand. He looked at him a moment then away to pull the straw out and eat the fry before answering. "You stood up for me, un," he replied. Itachi looked at him oddly, so he continued. "You lied to try and keep Fugaku off my back, un."

Itachi glanced down at the bed. It was embarrassing to see his father react and act like that. He was a model student, top of the school, honor student, AP classes, star runner of the Track team, free rides to any college he wanted. Everything about him was perfect except for the spot of his life that no one saw except Sasuke. He carried the effects of it with him to school, but no one saw it. No one paid attention to him really, just his being. Not himself. He didn't try to protect Deidara from him because he thought him a friend and didn't want him to be scared away, he did it because his father just embarrassed him and he rather get punished for stopping him then see someone else get hurt because he couldn't. He'd been ready to take whatever Fugaku was going to dish out afterwards, so long as both of the younger boys were out of the house. So long as Deidara had gotten Sasuke out of danger, he'd be fine with it, but he'd come back inside to get him. He didn't understand why and from the sound of it, Deidara wasn't quite sure either and using that excuse to cover it up.

"My mom wanted to know if you wanted to come eat dinner at our house," Itachi told him to insert something in the silence that followed. He glanced up, looking at Deidara shocked face so he added hurriedly, "my father's away on a business trip for a few days. Mom thinks I fell asleep studying at a friend's house."

"Your mom doesn't know, un?" Deidara asked slowly, raising an eyebrow as his straw found his mouth again. Apparently the cup was empty because after a few empty sucking noises, Deidara glanced at the cup looking upset with it for being empty and stuck it in the bag his food had come in.

"No," Itachi replied, staring at the wall. "My mom's happy. I don't want to mess that up."

"So you're taking the fall from your father and wont tell anyone, un?" Deidara asked, eyes widening to show just how stupid he thought that idea was.

Itachi mumbled that Sasuke found out, but was keeping it a secret too. "And if you tell anyone, I'll punch your face in personally," he added, glaring at Deidara.

Raising his hands in his defense, Deidara shook his head. "Who'd I tell, honestly," he laughed a little and laid back on the floor. "So your mom's nice?"

"My mom is in love with everything," Itachi said rolling his eyes before a small smile crept up on his face, thinking about her. "She's... amazing."

Deidara grinned up at him, rolling onto his stomach. "I'll come eat dinner, un," he said, nodding. He wondered where they'd be eating since he sort of destroyed their eating area, but he'd find out when he got there.

"What was your mom like?" Itachi asked before he could stop himself. He didn't want to sound friendly. He didn't want Deidara's friendship, but it sort of slipped out before he could stop it. Like word vomit, the kind you couldn't swallow back.

Deidara raised his eyebrow again, staring at him for a moment without really seeing him. "My mom is the prettiest woman in the world, un," he replied, resting his head down on the floor, so Itachi couldn't quite see his face.

"Is?" he asked, frowning slightly in thought.

"She lives in one of those big white houses on the other side of town near the country club on 31st, un," Deidara told him.

Itachi looked at him oddly, shocked into silence. Those were some of the most expensive houses in town. The only reason his family wasn't living there was because he'd wanted to go to this high school, which meant Sasuke was going to go to this high school. It was also closer to Fugaku's office so it all worked out fine, but he was having trouble seeing the loud mouth boy in front of him with his too long hair and feminine features living the same rich life he did. How had he become the lazy boy he was now who lived in a rundown orphanage with no heating or air conditioning, living off every penny found on the streets, selling himself for drug money? Itachi just couldn't picture him living the rich life. Deidara didn't look too thrilled to talk about it though, so Itachi didn't press.

"So where did you get your bike?" Itachi asked, trying to change the subject.

"Present," Deidara replied. He noted Itachi looking at him pointedly, wanting to know who Deidara knew who would get him a bike like that. "One of the people who pay me to entertain them for the night. They like giving presents like they think I'll pay more attention to them then someone else, un. I said I wanted one once and someone got it for me for my birthday. Daichi fixed it up all fancy so I can drive fast and race with it and painted it."

"Who's Daichi?"

"Their boss," Deidara replied, pointing back towards the door where the other's had gone out of with his thumb.

"The person who gave you your 'home'?" Deidara nodded to him, watching Itachi sit back and think on the information he received. Okay, he was curious about Deidara now. He couldn't' help it. He'd never met someone with such a strange life before. "Why do you do it?"

"Do what?" Deidara asked, tilting his head to the side in question.

"Sell yourself," Itachi replied, glancing away from him. He didn't mean to be nosy, but he really just couldn't understand. Deidara seemed willing to talk, and if the question was too personal, he was sure Deidara wouldn't answer at all.

"Drugs are expensive, un." What a lovely blunt answer. At least he was an honest whore. "Clothes are expensive too."

Itachi shrugged at that, not really finding that true, but then again, he didn't pay for it. He didn't pay for his food either, so maybe life was harder without money and he just never thought about it. "You have something other then that to wear tonight?" he questioned, glancing down at the torn stained jeans and too big hoodie the blond was wearing.

Deidara sneered at him, giving a snort of distaste as he pushed himself up off the ground and went over to a closet to look. "Depends on what you want me to wear, un," he replied. Itachi responded with 'just something nice', so Deidara was free to choose. At least he didn't say he had to wear slacks and a grandpa sweater. That was just a No with a capital N. He settled for dark jeans that looked fairly new though worn, a pale blue colored tank top to wear underneath a maroon hoodie and leather jacket. Itachi thought the jacket was a bit too much, but Deidara replied he didn't have a warmer jacket, so he let it go. Deidara went into the bathroom to change while Itachi decided to learn if he could function as a human being yet.

He could, though his head still ached something awful. He'd have to get some pain relievers when he got home. It was still early so Deidara had him drive him around the entire city in his pretty Mazda to do some errands with him. Nothing big, Itachi wanted to meet this Daichi person. He seemed to know a lot about cars which always attracted Itachi's attention. Deidara just grinned and shook his head. Not yet. It was starting to get annoying.

"Library," Deidara said when he got back in the car where he'd left Itachi waiting for him while he went into a club who's hours were printed on the door. It was closed but someone was inside, probably cleaning and let Deidara in to do whatever he needed to do.

"Library?" Itachi repeated, sounding surprised.

Deidara nodded, finding his shock confusing. "I have a book project in school, un," he told him. Just because he didn't like school didn't mean he didn't do the important projects that would mean passing and failing. He went into the building, Itachi deciding on as little movement as possible. The coldness of autumn was giving him a headache, happy with the warmth of the car.

When Deidara returned he had a few books under his arm. He tried to hide them from Itachi, but he caught a glimpse of them as they drove, Deidara's gaze fixated on the window of his car, watching everything fly by. He did note the book the juniors in school were all having to read. He only knew because people were complaining they couldn't find one because of how everyone was buying or taking them out of the library. Deidara must either have connections or he'd reserved one. There was also a few books on cars and bikes and racing. Also...

"Is that a fantasy book?" Itachi asked, glancing at the cover as he stopped at a light to get a better look at it. His curiosity was rewarded by a smack on the shoulder with said book and a reminder to mind his own business. How cute.

Deidara seemed fidgety as they came closer to the house, but Itachi wasn't going to tell him his mother didn't know that it was a bomb and that Deidara had set it off. It was amusing to see him fidget.

"Ever been invited to dinner?" Itachi asked coolly, deciding to push the buttons to see how many reactions he could get from the blond.

"Yes," was the simple answer.

"In this situation?"

"No."

Itachi smirked, watching Deidara shrink into his seat trying to make it look less obvious out of the corner of his eye. Pulling into his street, he stopped at a sign and looked over at Deidara. "I told mom we were studying at your place and fell asleep," he told the blond. "She translated that as we were at your house doing things that no one at your place would object to."

Deidara glared at him darkly. "Wishful thinking on your part, un," he snapped, not letting up on the glare.

Itachi raised a hand in his defense. "Just bracing you," he told him.

"Whatever," Deidara rolled his eyes and went to stare out the window again. Itachi shook his head again. Touchy. Very touchy, but it was starting to get amusing. Very amusing actually. Like pestering your siblings. You just can't help it.

Mikoto came rushing out of the house when Itachi stepped out of the car, hugging him tightly and telling him again how worried she had been. She made sure he was indeed alright, then stepped back with a smile, her eyes going over to Deidara who had frozen in mid motion of getting out of the car. Mikoto looked a lot like Itachi and Sasuke, her hair was even slightly similar. Her soft dark hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail to keep it off his neck as she went about her day, short bangs framing her face around her kind dark eyes. She wore dark blue jeans and a gray cami, the only jewelry was a silver watch on a black leather band and her wedding ring. Oh, and a necklace with a little heart pendant he didn't notice until the sun caught it. It looked like a locket. Somehow he had a suspicious feeling that it had pictures of Itachi and Sasuke inside.

"Hello," she said going over to him with a smile. "My name is Mikoto, Itachi's mother."

"Deidara," he said, taking her outstretched hand to shake. He was still nervous around this place after the incident with Fugaku, but his car wasn't around so Itachi hadn't been lying when he said he wasn't going to be there for a few days. Why was he here? Free meal. Haha. "Pleased to meet you, un," he added, smiling brightly.

Mikoto returned it, not seeing the sudden suspicious look that crossed Itachi's face behind her. "Come lets go inside, Sasuke's setting up the table for us," she said, leading them inside. "You'll have to excuse the mess, Deidara... There's been an accident in the kitchen, I haven't finished cleaning it up yet."

"That's alright, un," Deidara said, smiling to cover up the sheepish look that crossed his face. "Where I live we just take our food up to our rooms to eat."

"You don't eat together with your family?" Mikoto asked in surprise, glancing over her shoulder to look at him.

"Deidara lives at an orphanage," Itachi said, saving Deidara from explaining that one.

"Oh, I see," Mikoto said, deciding Deidara was the type that didn't like pity, so there was no reason to give it. She smiled at them and stepped inside. Deidara moved to follow her, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, spinning him on the spot.

"You're up to something," Itachi said, narrowing his eyes at him. His innocent face wasn't working on him. It was the same kind of look Sasuke gave when questioned if he went into his brother's room. Deidara tried to shrug but Itachi gave him a shove against the door post, making the casual look turn into a frown. He hadn't liked that. "She's being nice, don't take advantage of that."

"She invited me," he said with a snort of distaste, rolling out of his grip to slip inside before Itachi could snatch him back. Mikoto had set up a table in the sitting room down the hall from the kitchen. Following her to it, Deidara noted brief glances into the other rooms on the way to the sitting room. An office like den with a desk in the middle of the room with bookcases lining the walls, a game room. The game room looked huge, but Itachi have him a nudge to keep walking when he paused to peek inside. What'd he think he was going to do? Steal stuff?

They walked into the sitting room together as Sasuke finished setting down the glasses. He smiled at them, looking relieved to see Itachi. He asked what they wanted to drink so he could go into the kitchen to get it, asking Itachi with his eyes to come with him. Itachi seemed good at reading those kind of nonchalant request as he offered to help and left Deidara alone with mikoto. Apparently she was a good enough watch dog to leave him alone with her.

"So you and Itachi go to the same school?" Mikoto asked, smiling at him as she sat down.

Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, gravy, biscuits. Deidara had to wipe his mouth before replying. It was like KFC, only better. He hadn't even tasted it and he could tell it was better. "Yeah, but I'm a year behind him, un," he told her, sitting down next to her.

She nodded, putting serving spoons in each of the bowls then smiled at her boys as they came back into the room looking like they'd been having a serious brother chat. Itachi had a pitcher of water with lemon wheels in it while Sasuke had a pitcher of – gasp – juice. Deidara loved juice. The two sat down with them, Itachi across from Deidara within kicking distance, Deidara noted, and Mikoto started serving them.

There was so much food, Deidara couldn't imagine how they were all going to eat it, but looks were deceiving. Having three growing boys at the table made the large dishes disappear slowly but surely. Everything was as good as it looked. Fried chicken crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. The creamy mashed potatoes had lines of gravy mixed in it already with seasoning to give it such a good flavor it barely needed anymore gravy. And the gravy... Fast food never tasted like this... Hell, half the restaurants he'd been dragged to with clients who wanted a 'good time away from their house' didn't serve food this good. He told Mikoto so (dropping the client part), making her smile happily as though no one had ever complimented her cooking before. A lie, but it was still nice to hear. She offered him seconds, then thirds. By the time he was finished his third he was stuffed and feeling sleepy, but she had ice cream and ice cream is never passed up as a rule. Ice cream filled in the cracks in your stomach that your food couldn't get too.

Deidara offered to help with the dishes. Dinner like this was better then any free meal he'd ever gotten, unable to thank her enough for it. He wasn't one to tell her over and over how much he appreciated it, that just sounded needy and desperate so he offered. She declined and told him he and Itachi and Sasuke could go do their own thing instead. If that was the case he wanted to go home, but Itachi dragged him down the hall and up the stairs he'd been dragged down the day before to his room. The door shutting sharply behind him seemed a little ominous, but Deidara didn't let that effect him as he and Itachi shared a glaring contest.

"Don't get use to this," Itachi growled. "I don't want you taking advantage of my mom's over hospitable ways."

"Don't worry about that, un," Deidara said stiffly, folding his arms over his hoodie, his jacket in Itachi's car. "Your mom gave me a weird look when I said we were in different grades." He frowned at that, trying to work it out in his head.

"She thinks we're secretly dating or something," Itachi said, rolling his eyes as he felt he needed to when talking of his mother. "She can't figure out how we'd meet if we were in different grades."

"...Take me home, un," Deidara stated, not liking the fact that people were associating them together. He didn't like Itachi. The Uchiha was like a splinter that wouldn't come out.

This was one of those times in cartoons where a little angel appeared on one shoulder while a demon appeared on the other. Itachi didn't watch cartoons, but he listened to the two little voices argue in his head. He could take him back to his house, leave him alone, be done with him. Or... he could keep him here, pester him, provoke him into being entertaining, maybe even get him to finally tell him this big secret about his home and Deidara's previous fascination with his driving. Guess which voice he listened too.

"No," Itachi said, grinning a little. He watched Deidara glare darkly at him then turn to head towards the window. "Hey hey hey," Itachi warned, hurrying over to wrap his arms around Deidara's waist and lift him off the ground. "You're going to loose all the dinner my mom made for use if you jump," he said, smirking as Deidara tried to struggle out of his arms. The blond was surprisingly light, all he had to do was avoid the head the came his way to knock his skull again and he was easy to hold. Dropping him on his bed, Itachi climbed up to pin him down so he wouldn't scramble away. "It's rude to eat and run," Itachi told him, smirking down at him.

"I'm sure your mom'll understand, un," Deidara snapped struggling under his hold, back pressed against the bed. Itachi had some kind of crazed love of power.. or maybe it was strength. He seemed to enjoy making sure Deidara knew he was stronger then the younger teenager.

"Calm down," Itachi ordered, digging his fingers into Deidara's shoulders trying to get him to stay down, but all he did was wince a few times and keep going. "Tell me about your home. I'm conscious."

"Fuck no, get off me Itachi! Now, un!" Deidara's voice rose angrily, but Itachi shook his head.

"Just tell me," Itachi said, glaring at Deidara's refusal to comply. "Tell me how you know about drifting so much. Tell me who Daichi is."

Deidara paused a moment, giving him a stern look. A judging look. The blond was calculating things in his head, sorting through different thoughts and situations, outcomes, problems, solutions. "You really wanna know, un?" Deidara asked, eyes narrowing at him. When Itachi nodded, Deidara just rolled his eyes. "Fine I'll show you."

"Your home?" Itachi asked, curious about what this place was. If Deidara didn't live there why did he call it his home.

Deidara scoffed. "No," he said. "I'll take you to see Daichi, un." Itachi let him sit up on his bed, rubbing his shoulder a little as he did, frowning.

The blond glanced over at Itachi, a sly smirk crossing over his face. "You're gonna need to change first though, un."


	8. Chapter 8

**Twilight**

**Chapter8**

* * *

Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

* * *

Changing, Itachi learned wasn't just putting on nice clothes to meet someone's family. When Deidara said change, he meant change into something presentable for a club. Why he needed to dress like that to meet this Daichi, he couldn't figure out, but Deidara spent a good twenty minutes digging through his drawers and closet for the clothes he thought was presentable. Normally Itachi wouldn't have let the blond dig through his things, even if they were just his clothes, neatly packed away by his mother while he was at school. Deidara was going to be the death of his mother. They weren't so neatly in his drawers anymore.

When the clothes were laid out on the bed, Itachi was having second thoughts about the whole thing. Was it really worth his curiosity to let Deidara dress him? The shorter male had picked out black pants designed like jeans, a sleeveless skin tight shirt, studded belt... He'd asked Itachi if he had any bracelets to wear on his arms, but he only got an indignant look. Uchiha Itachi did not wear any jewelry except for the necklace he wore every day. Deidara had let it go and handed Itachi a dark jacket to wear. His wallet and keys in Itachi's pocket, the two of them walked out of the room and down the stairs.

"Mom, I'm going out!" Itachi called into the kitchen.

"How late sweety?" Mikoto called back from where she was cleaning up more of the mess.

"Um..." a glance at Deidara mouthing the word 'late' answered that one. "I'm going over Deidara's..." he smirked at the blond as he let that trail of in a would be embarrassed manner. Deidara glared at him as Mikoto asked if that meant he was spending the night there again to which Itachi said maybe.

One smirking, one glaring, together they walked out of the house ("Call when you decide where you're staying tonight!") and got into Itachi's car again. "Where too?" Itachi asked smoothly, turning the car on and letting the engine warm up.

"My house, I have to change, un," Deidara said, turning and stared pointedly out the window.

"Where are we going?"

"To meet Daichi, un."

"At a club?"

"You'll see," Deidara said, grinning a little as Itachi pulled out of the drive and into the street. His grin faded as the two of them lapsed in silence once more. Deidara hadn't liked how Itachi kept making remarks that were suggestive in a non suggestive manner. Mikoto now thought that the two of them were having sex or secretly dating or something and Itachi wasn't doing anything to prevent it, in fact he was egging it on. He only hoped that Itachi'd find some other form of entertainment tonight and leave him alone.

Back at the apartment, Deidara changed out of the clothes he'd met Mikoto in, leaving Itachi in the car. When he returned he was dressed in hole filled jeans and a green tank top. His leather jacket was over top of it all, keeping him warm. "Shouldn't you be wearing something warmer?" Itachi inquired, frowning slightly.

"It gets warm enough where we're going, un," Deidara assured him, telling him which streets to go on to get to where ever they were getting to. Itachi didn't understand, nor did he like not understanding, but he drove on, his curiosity to meet this Daichi overwhelming the part of him that just wanted to stay home with a good book.

They drove in silence except for Deidara's orders of 'turn here', 'left at the light' and the such. The buildings became less run down and more inhabited with shops and clubs. Strip clubs, bars, dancing clubs. Itachi lost count of how many he saw, but Deidara didn't tell him to stop. They were still in the city, but there were suddenly fewer and fewer cars until the black Mazda was the only car on the street with two very silent teenagers occupying it. The street lights turned the night from dark to yellow light, dark to yellow light, dark to yellow light. Finally Deidara spoke. It started Itachi out from the day dream he was having while driving.

"Turn down this street to the mall, un," was the command. Simple, calm, flat, just as they'd been since they got into the car. Oh, no wait. He pointed this time.

"This malls been closed for years," Itachi commented with a frown, but turned into the parking lot anyway.

"Who says we're going shopping?" Deidara questioned, pointing to the entrance to the parking garage at the other end of the outdoor parking lot. Itachi drove, feeling very stupid for doing so, but to his surprise there was a man standing at the gate, smoking a cigarette with a set of headphones over top of his spiked black hair. He glanced in the car, nodding to Deidara and opened the gate for them. "Drive on, un," Deidara said, motioning dramatically with his hand, smirking at Itachi with a snicker. Glad someone was amused.

Itachi drove up into the empty parking garage. First floor was empty of cars and people, so was the second floor... the third as well. Itachi was beginning to think the blond was trying to pull something on him. Idiot him for stepping into a trap if it was, but then he got up to the fourth floor and noticed cars. Nice cars. The fifth floor had people in it, car stereos pumping out music while people talked and danced. The six floor was even more crowded. The whole floor was covered in cars decked out and painted to be shown off. People danced, people made out, people worked on cars, people flirted, people drank. Itachi didn't know how many people were there, but it seemed like quite a bit. A party, but what was Deidara doing with people who looked so upper class? Looking closer, Itachi noticed that they weren't upper class. They were every class. From the poorest ghetto to some of the upper class from other schools. Even his school. The only thing that seemed so out of place were the cars. Where did they come from? They couldn't belong to the people here, half of them couldn't afford more then a days meal.

Finding a parking spot, Itachi was slightly upset by Deidara getting out of the car and leaving him stranded in this group of people he didn't know, nor did he want to know. He didn't show it on his face, trying to keep the blond's swinging pony tail in sight, but he decided to stand by his car and protect it from graby hands.

"Deidara, you're late," a man called from a group the blond was heading to.

"Better late then never, un," Deidara replied coolly, taking a bottle from another to open and enjoy.

"Who'd you bring with you?" a girl leaning against the open hood of a Honda asked, glancing over at the new comer, guarding his car like a bouncer. "He's cute!"

"Potential, un," Deidara said, not to her, but to the blue haired man leaning against another car. "He wants to meet you, Daichi."

"Oh?" Daichi asked, sticking something sweet and sugary in his mouth. Dark eyes looked the Uchiha over, then moved to examine his car. RX-7, nice condition, new looking tires. He was willing to bet on there being several thousand under the hood. Deidara had told him about this Uchiha Itachi and his rich ways. "Nice ride."

"That's the car he was driving, un," Deidara told him, shifting from one foot to the other. He was waiting for Daichi to tell him he could go enjoy himself. That he didn't need him for anything else. He was given a nod and off the blond was, going into the crowds of dancers with a few others, drinks in hand to mesh into the mass of moving bodies.

Itachi glanced up when someone approached him and his car. He looked familiar, but Itachi couldn't place where he'd seen him. Dark eyes met Itachi's red stained ones, immune to the glare Itachi was giving him, warning him silently to keep away from his car. Where had he seen him before?

"Nice ride," the man commented, chewing on something lazily as he examined the car from a few feet away. Itachi thanked him curtly, but didn't engage anything with the stranger. He was here for one thing, not to make friends with people who were more looking for his wallet then anything else. "Deidara tells me you're a natural drifter."

"Look, no offense, but Deidara dragged me here to get some answers," Itachi told him, shrugging briefly, then folded his arms. "I'm not staying, I just want the answers, then I'll be going."

"You're going to leave Deidara here then?" The man was still examining his car, yet Itachi felt his attention was focused on himself.

"He's a big boy," Itachi sneered. "I'm here to see this Daichi guy."

"I am Daichi," the man told him, tipping his blue spiked hair in a calm greeting.

Itachi was startled, not expecting the man to just walk up to him. Now he remembered where he'd seen him before. This was the man who he'd seen at Deidara's apartment, speaking to the pregnant woman who'd led him to Deidara's room. Daichi was tall, slightly taller then Itachi himself. His blue tipped hair was spiked up with hair products, tattoos visible under the black t shirt he was wearing with a pair of plain jeans. Itachi was surprised. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting of this Daichi, but it hadn't been this person. If you erased his tattoos and changed his hair color, he looked like any other man you could meet on the street. Daichi moved closer to the car now that Itachi knew who he was and could allow him to get closer without fear of damage coming to his car.

Itachi fought to find his voice, bringing up the questions he'd planned out from what Deidara had told him. "You fix cars?" he said, making it a question. He normally didn't enjoy engaging in conversations, but if they were going to talk about cars, Itachi was willing to make due.

Daichi nodded, tracing his fingers feather soft over the roof of his car, watching the car as though he were getting to know the machine personally. "I own a garage near the middle of the city," he replied, touching the hood, but not yet asking permission to open it yet.

"What's this place?" Itachi asked, gesturing to the party going on around them.

"People with the same interests getting together to enjoy themselves and have fun," Daichi replied. "This is an Underground dealership. Business mixed in pleasure and passion to bring together some of the greatest racers, and hottest girls together." He grinned at Itachi, who glanced around as though he were quite certain that no one here could be great racers. "Basically, among this group of partiers are several groups. Each group has a leader who makes the biggest decisions for them, they're also sometimes the main racers. We race for money, we race for slips, we race for girls or boys. Sometimes we even race for the fun of it." Daichi motioned for Itachi to open the hood of his car, stepping back so he could.

Itachi listened to him talk, liking the slow casual tone the man used to speak with. He seemed almost bored with talking, but it was clear you had his full attention while you spoke to him, that he wanted to hear you and wanted you to hear him. He complied and opened the hood of is car. He was quite pleased with what was under his hood. Daichi leaned in to examine it, giving little nods, soft 'hms' before stepping back.

"Sometimes the heads of these mini gangs are only in it for the money. Their people race for them, they get to keep part of the earnings," Daichi told him, slipping another piece of candy in his mouth as Itachi closed the hood of his car.

"And you're one of those gang leaders?" Itachi inquired, looking at him to study him as he was being studied.

Daichi laughed shortly, then gave a little nod. "I suppose I am. A friend of mine and I started these street racings. It started out with us racing each other on streets. Then people started hearing about it and coming to watch, to bet, to party. People started asking to race too... it all built up to this," he made a gesture with his hand.

"Deidara was one of the people that came to watch?" Itachi asked, listening to it all to take in a process. No wonder his father hated Deidara. Street racing, underground dealing with cars, drugs, underage drinking. He was sure if he mentioned some of the names of others here, it'd spark the same hatred in his father. "He said you gave him what he calls his home."

"Ahh... Deidara's special in that sense," Daichi told him, leaning on the car next to Itachi's. "Deidara's been with me since he was ten. My wife and I bought the apartment he lives in and petitioned the city to let us bring orphans in. Of course, most of the older ones work for me. It's an easy way to cover it up. Deidara calls my garage his home. There's places to live and sleep there, Deidara likes to come over a lot and work on cars, stay for a few days then goes away for a while. He doesn't like settling in places for too long, so he has two that he can go back and forth too... but why are you so interested in him?" Daichi inquired with a grin, almost mocking, but it was friendly.

Itachi frowned, not liking the way he'd phrased it. He made it sound like he was interested in him as a person, a crush of some sort. That was stupid. "He's an interesting person," Itachi replied, giving him a hard glare to let him know what he thought of his statement.

"That he is, un," Daichi agreed. "Deidara was mad at you for quite a while because of your actions. You wanted him and he resented you for it."

"Why?" Itachi asked, glancing over at him. It was strange with all the noise, how quiet it seemed around them. Daichi had his full attention when he spoke. And he listened, curious to know more about this world inside the rest of the world that no one knew about save for the small handful here in this parking structure.

"He resents everyone who takes things from him, even me," Daichi replied, glancing across the floor of the garage where a race was being started between two young men, their cars already given the Go to peel away towards the sharp curves of the landings. Itachi wanted to watch them, but only the sharp turns as they drifted with deafening screeches along the smooth pavement onto the next floor. Everyone cheered, some ran after the cars, others raced to the stairs to see the end.

"Why does he resent you?" Itachi asked, confusion ringing in his voice. "I thought he liked you..."

Daichi smiled, slipping a piece of pocky in his mouth. "Would you like a drink?" he asked, motioning him over to where iced chests sat together against the wall. He led Itachi over and handed him a bottle. Itachi took it, opening it and tossing the lid into the large metal trash cans there, looking at Daichi expectantly for an answer. Daichi drank water then sat down against the wall. "I provided for Deidara since I brought him, but just like everyone else, I told him that he had to earn his keep or leave. Deidara likes his freedom, he didn't want to work for me, but he didn't want to work for anyone else either. I challenged him to a race when he was fifteen. If he lost, he could do what he wanted, if I won, he worked for me."

Itachi almost laughed. "He's arrogant," Itachi commented.

"Very," Daichi agreed with a nod and a smile. "What did you want with me? Unless it was to get information on our dear little blond friend."

"I wanted to just know at first," Itachi admitted, setting his nearly full bottle down. "I'm interested in your garage and how you fix cars, you sound amazing at it. Deidara told me how you fixed his bike."

"I don't work for favors without any in return," Daichi told him. Before Itachi could protest and say that he would pay him, Daichi raised a hand to let him continue. "Do me a favor and we'll talk."

To have this man work on his car was something Itachi wanted. He had everything he needed in his engine to make it run smooth and race fast, but it lacked the mechanic that knew what he wanted and how it could be improved. The son of the head of police couldn't very well walk into a garage and ask for them to build his car into something that would be perfect for street racing. "What is it?" Itachi asked, sitting up a little straighter.

Daichi finished his water and ate another piece of pocky. "Deidara has a tendency during these night races when he isn't in them to get either very high or very drunk, unfortunately some times both," Daichi said, standing up with Itachi following in suit. "I don't want someone here taking advantage of that."

"You want me to take him home?" Itachi said, making sure he was fully understanding what it was Daichi wanted him to do.

"Take him home, get in his good favors," Daichi said, glancing back at him, seeing the scoff that came on Itachi's face at the thought of getting in the blond's good favors. "I know Deidara better then anyone in this building, probably in this city. Take him home, let him sleep, he'll thank you for it in the morning... in his own way. It was nice to meet you Uchiha Itachi," he added as he walked away, leaving Itachi alone and not really liking the task he'd been given. But he wanted Daichi to upgrade his car, so he got up and searched for Deidara.

When he found the blond, he was definitely drunk, talking and laughing in a loud voice, though all of the people around them were talking so. Several looked like possible 'clients' for Deidara, everyone seemed to know him. Itachi watched with disgust at the displays before him, he never approved of things like this. It was gross to watch unless you were a complete pervert. It made him think less of Deidara, seeing him like this but the blond looked happy, maybe it was the alcohol.

"Deidara," he said, when he finally decided he'd had enough of the sight before.

Deidara noticed Itachi standing there and grinned drunkenly. "Hey Uchiha!" he called, though Itachi was only a few feet away from him. "Having fun, un?"

"I was," Itachi admitted.

Deidara just laughed as though he said something amusing. "Come dance with us!" he told him, beckoning to him.

Itachi did not want to join and orgy with clothes on, for that's what their dancing looked like. Everyone there looked rather drunk, those that weren't were waiting patiently for the ones that were to be willing to go home with them for their own perverted entertainment. "I want you to come with me, Deidara," Itachi tried, smiling at him. It was not a friendly smile, though it wasn't unfriendly either.

Those around him continued moving, but Deidara shifted into stillness as though he were thinking hard on something that needed his full attention. "Where are we going, un?" he asked, moving closer to Itachi so he didn't have to shout over the music. He must be drunk to be willing to go with Itachi. He could be wanting to take him some place and seriously fuck him up, just like everyone else here seemed to want to do. So trusting. No, not trusting. It was self destructive, foolish and desperate. Almost sad. He must be very drunk to be agreeing to go with Itachi.

"Your place, my place, any where you'd prefer," Itachi told him smoothly, reaching out a helping hand as Deidara stumbled, but he suspected it was intentional. He held Deidara up and led him towards his waiting car, the blond was more willing them he expected. A few disappointed cries behind them made Deidara turn his head back to look at the other hopefuls, but Itachi wanted out now. He wasn't leaving without Deidara. Sliding his arm around his shoulders, he drew the drunk blond closer to him and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "It'll be worth it," he murmured, giving Deidara's ear a little nip, feeling the small ring pierced around the cartilage with his tongue.

Alcohol was the bane of mankind. He felt the blond shiver under his touch, and a sly little grin came on his face. "Alright, un," Deidara said, walking with him back to the car. "We can go to my place, un, don't wanna scare your mom." He was practically draping himself on him, it would have been pleasing if he hadn't been so drunk. Itachi just nodded and took him back to the apartment, helping him up the stairs and to his room.

The sun was high in the sky when Deidara opened his eyes the next morning, light was pouring into his room from the only window in his room, good thing it was a big one because his electric lighting wasn't that good in his room. He tried to recollect his thoughts before getting up. He didn't remember getting back home or falling asleep, perhaps if he laid still and thought about it, he'd remember before he sat up and welcomed the migraine as payment from the previous night's drinking. As he laid there he realized that he wasn't wearing his shirt and his pants were too loose to be belted and zippered closed. He groaned at himself and buried his face in his pillow. What had he done last night?

The door to his room opened with a soft creak signaling the approach of who ever he'd spent the night with. The other house occupants would be just as dead as he was so it must have been. He must have been seriously wasted to bring someone here... he never brought people to his apartment, or to Daichi's garage. He thought he might be mortified with himself if he took someone to sleep with to the garage. He had to play cool now, not confused and twinged with fear of not knowing, the uncertainty.

"What time is it, un?" he groaned, sliding over onto his back to sit up, pulling the blankets innocently up his chest. He froze at the voice that answered and the sight before him.

Itachi stood in the door of his room with a local grocery bag in his hands, glancing at his cell phone to tell him that it was almost two in the afternoon. Itachi's face was pure amusement of the horror on the blond's face. "Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad," he teased.

"I... I mean.. no... we didn't..." Deidara stammered backing away from the teenager as he approached closer to him until his back was to the wall.

"Now Deidara... is that anyway to talk to someone like me?" Itachi asked, kneeling in front of him, knees on the bed as he leaned forward to trap Deidara against the wall without touching him. He grinned deviously, then let it drop, Deidara expression amusing, but Itachi wasn't getting too entertained. "Here," he said, dropping the bag on his lap. "Fix your pants and put a shirt on, you'll get sick."

Though he grumbled as he did, Deidara obeyed. The bag contained a tinfoil wrap of two hot dogs with everything on it, a cup of miso soup, a bottle of soda and a tiny bottle of headache pills. Itachi had bought the smallest one he could, fearing Deidara's drug abuse would lead him to overdosing the painkillers. He couldn't do much harm with this little bottle. Deidara swallowed a few pills down with the soda, unwrapping the hot dogs to eat. His suspicious, accusing eyes never left Itachi. Red tinted eyes never left the blue ones a few feet away, though they were the farthest few feet the blond could muster.

"Nothing happened," Itachi finally said, deciding to put a stop to the blond's wrongful anger. He had to get Deidara to take him to Daichi's. Why the mechanic couldn't just do it and be paid for it, he didn't know. Deidara's eyes became critical, glaring at him darkly. Lighting up a cigarette with an aggravated sigh, Itachi explained, "I brought you home, I put you to bed. You tried to get me to fuck you, hence your lack of clothes, and I told you no and to go to sleep."

"Bullshit," Deidara snapped, smashing the empty tinfoil in anger.

"It's true," Itachi said with a shake of his head.

"Why would you do that, un?" Deidara demanded, sitting up straighter to lean forward like he wished to hit Itachi, but wasn't angry enough yet. "You've been at it since that fucking kiss in your goddamn car and I get so drunk I'm willing and you refuse, un? You're a horrible liar!"

"It's not a lie," Itachi told him, shaking his head. "I'm not like those assholes who'd drag off someone who could barely walk alone for a quick fuck. I respect you more then that." Deidara's glare faltered slightly, eyes widening slightly though it was barely noticeable. "Sorry if I dragged you away from a couple more bucks last night," Itachi said, puffing out trails of gray colored smoke from his mouth in his irritation. "I just didn't think you'd appreciate being left to the wolves."

There was silence from the other, but the blue eyes never left him. They were seeing, listening, thinking and comparing. Itachi waited patiently for him to come to his decision on how he should handle what he'd been told and if he should believe it. It was true that other then his head, he wasn't sore in the slightest, maybe a little from dancing, but that was it. He decided that because he didn't understand it, he wasn't going to answer so he opened the other hot dog and ate it in silence. Itachi seemed fine with that, sitting against the wall with his cigarette, not speaking until Deidara had started nibbling on the tofu in the miso soup.

"I met your Daichi last night," Itachi said, steering the conversation that way as a very subtle hint. He wasn't going to tell Deidara that it was Daichi who told him to bring him home. It was part of the reason, but he'd been honest when he said he respected Deidara more then those wanting his attention at the party last night did. After seeing Deidara's reaction to what might have happened and with who, Itachi realized that Daichi was right about Deidara. He wouldn't have liked it and expecting to be taken advantage of and shown some form of ...mercy? He supposed that was the right word. It was throwing the blond off track.

Deidara lifted his head to look over at him, face unreadable for a moment before he looked down. Shame? Was that what that expression was? "Was he mad?" Deidara asked, glancing over at him from under his lashes.

"No, he seemed pleased to see me," Itachi mused to himself, glancing up at the ceiling in thought as though a movie of the night before was playing there for him to review. "He was interesting..."

"No, I meant... never mind, un," Deidara said, stuffing his face with the rest of his soup and downed his soda. Itachi watched him stand slowly to avoid any stabs of pain from his headache and walked to his old dresser to pull out clothes then trudged into the bathroom.

When he came back out, he was dressed in light camouflage pants and a long sleeve off red colored shirt, like red that had a little green dripped into the dye. He pulled on his black construction boots and a heavy looking hoodie from his closet to pull on before tying up the shorter ends of his hair. Itachi watched him with curiosity, wondering what he was getting dressed, but then Deidara asked him if he was coming. His voice seemed unsure of it's self, Itachi hadn't heard Deidara talk like that before, but his eyes still looked deep in thought.

"Where are we going?" Itachi asked, standing himself with a flick of the ashes from his cigarette.

"You... you wanted to see Daichi's garage, right?" he asked, not looking at him. "I'll show you where it is, un." He started for the door, leading the surprised, yet pleased Uchiha down the stairs. He was still very lost and confused about the whole thing. He didn't understand why Itachi hadn't done anything to him last night. He had the opportunity, drunk he was apparently willing, yet Itachi didn't act like those rich men who demanded his time and attention, not caring if he wanted it or not. To them he was trash that could be used and tossed away when used up, maybe recycle again from time to time, but Itachi didn't. Deidara was very confused. Giving Itachi what he wanted was the only thing he could think of to give in return. He would take him to Daichi's.

The garage was larger then he expected, almost the size of a warehouse on a busy street. The outside wasn't that fancy, but the garage doors, which he would see a few months later were painted a dark color against the brick wall. Inside however was a car loved fantasy. It was divided into three parts. In one, every lift was either brand new or specially kept, the walls were lined with hooks for parts, shelves and tool chests. That was the part of the garage for fixing cars. The next part was full of cars Itachi learned had been won from the street racing, or ones he bought in particular with his own money that he fancied. Itachi was in awe of the different makes and models in the room. The third part, he assumed to be the bunking area where Deidara apparently slept when he came to stay.

The first part was where Deidara took him, several men were standing around talking or leaning over engines. He recognized some from the group that had come into Deidara's room with him when Itachi woke from unconsciousness. Daichi was standing under a raised lift looking up at the underside of a red Supra, noting them as they came closer and went over to greet them. He had a smile like he'd been waiting for Itachi and Deidara to come, having plans for them... or him. He couldn't tell, but everyone seemed to have stopped their work to glance up at the three of them.

What ever it was, he'd find out soon, he was sure.


	9. Chapter 9

**Twilight**

**Chapter 9  
**

* * *

Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

* * *

Daichi had spent the first hour of Itachi's first visit to his garage showing the Uchiha around. It was there he got to see the rest his eyes didn't intake on his first glance around. If it hadn't been for the structures holding the cars, their voices would have echoed a lot. Up the stairs was the open second floor filled with chairs and sofas and even a card table. This was the place to relax and hang out. There were a few bunks against the wall with heavy curtains for privacy, but the majority of the bunks was on the first floor behind a heavy garage door. Or a regular door, if you didn't want to make a racket opening the larger door. The bunking room was large, though it didn't look so with the bunks that appeared to be built into the two walls they lined. Through the door on the other end was the bathroom which was equally large. Itachi thought he counted at least six showers and a row of sinks before he was pulled back into the main part of the garage.

When they stopped in front of the cars, Daichi looked Deidara over, as though making sure he was whole and fit and not trying to fake anything. Satisfied, he turned to Itachi once more. "You're in my favor, Uchiha," he told him. "I will upgrade your car. A few of us are going up to the mountain this afternoon, would you like to come with us?"

"To race?" Itachi asked, looking surprised. He thought it over for a very brief moment, then shook his head. "I don't have anything to race for." He had his credit cards, but he didn't think it was such a good idea to spend the money his mother put there for him on a race. But Daichi just nodded, saying that was fine and he should come anyway since he didn't get the chance to last night.

The group broke up to head to their cars, but Deidara stopped Itachi before he could climb into his own. The blond was staying behind, feeling too out of it to spend the afternoon in the sun racing. He didn't think his stomach could handle that for long. "Daichi never races for just nothing, un," he warned him, shaking his head.

"What are you saying?" Itachi inquired, surprised by his concern.

Deidara watched the cars pull out of the building, all headed towards the road that led to the very mountain Deidara had seen Itachi drive on. "I think he's going to try and pull you into racing for him, un," the blond said finally, looking back at Itachi. Something on Itachi's face made Deidara give him a dirty look. "I'm not worried about you, un! I just... don't.. feel like spending more time with you then I have too, un."

And he was gone. Itachi shook his head, a grin on his face. Deidara was very reactionary to him, it was very amusing. As he drove down the road where the cars had disappeared he thought on what he said. What would be so bad about working for Daichi? He had only met him a short time and he liked the man. Itachi loved racing, what could be so horrible about trading in a few nights of racing for unending mechanical support? Daichi seemed to be teaching the others how to work on cars like he did, Itachi'd love to learn it. Maybe Deidara was being honest and didn't want to spend more time with him. The thought made him sigh. What was it about himself that repulsed Deidara so much? He didn't think he'd done anything out of what others had done to him, even less then that. Deidara probably hated all those people too, but they waved money in his face so he had to put up with them.

His thoughts were thick the entire way to the mountain top where the others were waiting. There they spend the entire afternoon talking about cars and racing until the sun started to set and they decided to head back to the garage. Itachi called his mother on the way back to tell her that he was out with friends and would be home for bed and school the next day. It was hard to tell over the phone but he suspected that she was thrilled to hear that he was hanging out with friends more often.

Deidara was asleep in a stuffed chair when they came back. Itachi and Daichi left him alone to set the bags of carry out food on a table on the second floor, but the others woke him up violently, dragging him off the chair and fussing over him in mocked voices. Deidara sounded particularly thrilled about that by the curses and yelling from the blond.

"Are they always so mean to him?" Itachi asked aloud, looking down at the commotion.

Daichi looked at him a moment as though thinking his question over and looked down at them himself. "The burden of being the youngest of the group, and with Deidara's rep'... well they all feel that they helped him be so successful, so he should pay them back," Daichi explained as Deidara pulled away from their grabbing hands to follow the smell of food.

"You shouldn't let them do that kind of stuff to you," Itachi told the blond as he dug through the bags curiously.

Deidara looked up at him with a frown then sat down with a container of Lo Mein. "I didn't ask for your help, un," he muttered darkly. As he took the lid off and broke apart the chopsticks, he watched Daichi. "He's in, isn't he?"

Daichi smiled at him and sat down with his own hunan, Itachi with his chicken. The others came and got their different foods, breaking away to go eat alone or in pairs. "You have an eye for talent," was all he told him, answering his question.

Itachi glared at the blond, his irritation and dislike towards him beginning to frustrate him. "Look, I don't know why you hate me so much, or what the hell I did to piss you off, but you don't have to make it so obvious," he snapped at the blond.

"Why shouldn't I, un?" Deidara demanded of him. "You're just like everyone else."

"Says who?" Itachi demanded, rising in his chair to challenge his accusation. He though he was just like all those assholes who used him for their own entertainment, those people pawing all over him because he was too drunk to stop them? It was almost an insult to hear it, though he'd already suspected it. "You're jumping to conclusions! I haven't done anything to you except kiss you once, un!"

"Enough," Daichi said calmly around a piece of beef. "If you're going to rip each other's throats out, I'd rather it not be while we're eating." The two obediently fell silent, Deidara eating the rest of his food before getting up to throw his trash away and climb down the stairs to head towards the bunk.

He was angry and confused. It was making him lash out and loose his self control, even he could see it, though it was hard to stop it. Deidara didn't understand why Itachi had chased after him like all the others had then not taken what he'd been wanting when he had the opportunity. He grumbled to himself as he peeled off his hoodie and shirt, climbing up the small ladder to his bunk. When he first started staying here and not the apartment, Deidara had fought for the third bunk up – the highest one. He didn't want anyone sneaking up on him like they had a few minutes previous. However nice the bunks were, they still shook a little when someone climbed the ladder. In fact...

"What do you want, un?" he asked, looking over the side of his bed at Itachi climbing up. His shoes had been left by the door with Deidara's. Everyone else was out, therefore their shoes absent.

Itachi climbed up the ladder to sit on the edge of Deidara's bed, ignoring the irritation from the blond at the uninvited act. "I want to talk to you," was the reply.

"Maybe I don't want to talk to you, un," he heard himself snap back. He was in a bad mood today, though he accounted it for his confusion and the headache he still had, though the pills had ebbed it considerably.

"Then you can listen," Itachi calmly replied. Deidara started to protest, but Itachi held his hand up. "I'm just going to talk, alright? I only agreed with Daichi because I want to learn more about the cars. I respect his skill, I want to learn. You've nothing to do with it, and I'll gladly ignore you as much as possible, but I don't want you glaring at my back the whole time." He paused thinking on how he wanted to say what he wanted to say. "At the races last night, I saw how those assholes were treating you," he said finally.

"That's none of your business how I conduct my business, un!" Deidara snapped, moving like he would push Itachi off the bed, but Itachi moved to avoid it if he would. "I don't want your pity, or your attention, un. I live my own life, so stay out of it."

"I thought you didn't want to talk," Itachi mused with a grin. "I'm not trying to invade your life, I'm just walking really close. If you don't want me to talk to you, or even look at you, I wont. Just don't glare at me."

And he was getting down. Deidara glared at where he'd been, confused by that little exchange. It wasn't Itachi coming that was making him snappy and moody. His whole confusion with what should have happened, but didn't happen was making him grouchy. Picking up one of the books he'd gotten at the library from his messenger bag and flipped it open with a huff. Maybe reading will let him forget Itachi for a while.

Itachi hadn't wanted to leave Daichi's garage, spending the rest of the afternoon watching and learning. He was most fascinated by Daichi's collection of cars won by his races and by those working for him. Daichi promised he'd be able to drive some of them at times, but not today so Itachi settled for sitting in the driver's seat for a few moments. He learned where all the tools were in the garage and found his way around the kitchen. He didn't want to leave, but he promised his mother he'd be home for dinner and there was school tomorrow.

His mother was so thrilled to see him, happy he was making friends and wanting to hear all about his time. He told her only about the garage, deciding that illegal acts should not be mentioned in his house. It could bring a lot of problems if Fugaku found out.

"I'm so glad you're making friends, baby," Mikoto said, handing him glass of water and orange slices for them to share as she sat down. The dinner was baking in the oven for the time being, Sasuke at a friend's house and should be home any minute, Fugaku would be coming home tomorrow so she had the boys to herself for another night.

"Mom... I'm not a baby anymore," Itachi grumbled into his glass.

Mikoto have him the innocently naive look that mothers give when they know they've embarrassed you and think it's rather cute. "Have I embarrassed you in front of your friend, Itachi?" she asked, innocently.

"Well... yeah... I mean," he sighed a little, picking up a slice of orange. "...He's not really my friend."

"No?" Mikoto asked, tilting her head to the side. "You spent one night and a whole day with him and he's not your friend?"

"No mom... actually, he kinda hates me," Itachi admitted, frowning as he stuffed the orange in his mouth.

"That upsets you?"

"It's just irritating," Itachi said shaking his head. "Daichi wants me to work with him in his shop and Deidara's just making it difficult, that's all." He finished off his fill of oranges and told his mother he'd be going to his room to study for a test that he remembered he had tomorrow.

The order to stay after class was obeyed by the desire to not meet a certain someone in the locker room to prepare for gym. History, oh how he hated it. Head resting on folded arms, Deidara waited patiently for the other students to leave, his teacher was folding up her papers and setting them neatly on her desk. When the room was clear, she approached his desk with a casual stroll and a fiddle of her hands. It was the movement he'd seen many teachers do when they're about to tell you something that they'd rather not. Miss. Weinholt, pale skin and red hair, leaned on the desk across from him.

"Deidara... you haven't turned in any of the major assignments this quarter," she told him as though he didn't know. "I pride myself over never letting a student fail my course... but I'm not beyond it."

"Miss. Wienholt, you know I don't care about it, so why even bother, un?" Deidara asked smugly, he could transfer out of her class if he made up some sap story for the councilors. He didn't need to know about Japanese history in his own personal opinion. When would he ever need to use it?

"Because I'm a teacher and that is my job," she replied. She'd always been a feisty one. She was the only female teacher besides the gym teacher who could break up a fight between two football players in the hallway. Fearless. That was interesting to have in a teacher, but rather annoying in times like this. "I've spoken to your other teachers and they share the same concern. If you don't start making up your work for at least the next two quarters, you'll fail the grade and have to repeat it again."

Deidara merely shrugged, "so what?"

"You're on probation right now, for that whole incident on Halloween," she continued. "If you fail or drop out that's going against it and you'll go to jail." She folded her arms smartly and looked down at him with her piercing hazel eyes. Deidara didn't respond, she knew had him there. School was like a fence to him, chained around to let him only see through the links at the amazing things the city had to offer for his own enjoyment, but fences could be climbed over. Jail was a cage. A cage without a lock to pick. A cage nailing away his freedom behind concrete and barred doors and windows. He'd been there once for a night. He would rather die then go back.

Miss. Wienholt did not mock him for winning the moment. Instead she spoke of ways he could make up to erase the zeros, he heard her coming out of the haze of memories. "...only get partial credit of course, because they're late, but it's better then a zero. I'd suggest going to all your teachers and asking for any work you could turn in to boost your grade, any extra credit."

"What if they don't want too, un?" Deidara snapped back, irritated at all this. Having to do school work instead of going to juvenile jail was a horrible exchange. He was seventeen, turning eighteen in a year's time. He'd been warned that next time he'd be lucky if they wanted to try him as an adult instead.

"Then you can come to me and I'll speak to them myself," she said with a nod, standing up right and went over to her desk. She pulled out a folder and handed it to him as he stood and approached the desk to get the excused late note from her to give to his gym teacher. "You're a brilliant student," she said as she scribbled the note and signed it. "It'd be sad to see it gone to waste."

"You're supposed to tell me I'm brilliant," Deidara grumbled as he stuffed the folder into his bag. "It's supposed to inspire me, un." The tone was meant to indicate how much it wasn't.

She smiled at that and handed him the note. "Yes, but I've seen how you think and work when you do. I've seen your artwork, and not just your decorating the hallways with destroyed vending machines," Deidara feigned innocence as people began filing into the class to their seats, chatting away.

Puffing his hair out of his face in irritation, he left the room, taking his good old time to get to his next class. The folder had to contain all the make up work and extra credit she could put together for this second quarter that he would have to finish and turn in before the end of the quarter. What were they studying this quarter anyway? What had they talked about today? He paused to stare at the tile floor, trying to remember what he'd been doing in class. Oh yes, he'd been sketching up a design to paint on a car.

It was too late to get dressed for gym now; Tarr, the men's gym teacher would probably make him sit on the bleachers and do homework. Making a U-turn to his locker, he pushed passed his jacket to the stack of books he rarely touched to find his history book. Safely tucked under his arm, he went to the gymnasium and handed the note to Tarr, who did indeed tell him to sit on the bleachers and do homework. He quoted the next line silently: 'if you don't have any, I'll get some paper work you can work on'. Paper work was looking through old beat up fitness magazines and filling things out about them on a piece of paper. It was boring. The natural response any one should have was that they did have homework.

Sitting down half way up, he looking through the folder with an air of despair. He hoped all the answers would be in his book and not on the notes the class had been required to take that he, of course, did not. Fishing out a pen from his bag, he propped his feet up and set to work.

Itachi sat in the group of athletes in front of their coach, stretching while they listened to him talk them through the stretches. When he'd first begun doing this, Itachi found it distracting and pointless. He knew the stretches and after the first three practices the first year track members would know them too, but still he talked them through it. Now it was simply a background noise to him, though the voice helped to stretch himself farther. He couldn't explain it, but it did.

Rain had started pouring outside and in the cool autumn air, they couldn't practice so they had taken it indoors. Coach had arranged it so the basketball team would be doing drills in the other smaller size room to give them the entire gymnasium. The practice was coming to a close and though he'd told himself to ignore Deidara for the time being, he couldn't help notice that he was still sitting on the bleachers from when he'd come late to class, pouring over... school work? Most of the class had been shocked as he had, but no one talked about it much. Men didn't seem to gossip in gym, but the girls made up for that anyway.

After showering and redressing, Itachi came out and noticed his coach telling Deidara he had to go home. With practices ending, there would be no teacher to supervise him. He couldn't hear Deidara's response, but he could see the distracted look on his face as he packed his things up and started for the stairs. Itachi brushed it out of his mind and went to his school locker to get his school books out as well as an umbrella. Hearing someone call his name, he groaned and glanced over at the group of cheerleaders bouncing over to them. Did someone forget to tell them that practice was over and they didn't have to bounce so much?

"Itachi! We saw you practicing, you're so amazing!" "Itachi, can I walk to the car with you?" "Can I share your umbrella? I left mine at home." "Wanna hang out some time?" "Itachi you look so hot today!"

Why were cheerleaders so hard to block out and ignore? Oh yes, that was their job, to inspire and get your attention. He slammed his locker shut and tried to get away from them, heading for the front door. The shelter of the overhanging block of concrete over the door made the line of water look like a small thin waterfall. It was pouring outside. Perhaps he should wait until it let up to drive home, hydroplaning and crashing his car sent a jolt of fear for his favorite possession at the thought. That would mean putting up with this group longer, which he didn't want to do, but he noticed he wasn't the only person waiting for the rain to let up.

"Too wet to ride?" he asked before he could stop himself. He'd stopped the group of girls from talking though. The great Itachi speaks! Oh, yes, of course he does.

Deidara looked up at him from where he sat against the brick wall, his messenger bag laying next to him looking much fuller then it normally did. In fact, it looked over stuffed. He had a few books laying next to him, all school books. "Too cold," was his simple response to Itachi's question, dropping his head down to look at his book again.

The girls all seemed to notice Deidara at the same time when he spoke, hurrying over to him to flirt and be coy and everything you're supposed to do in exchanges between boys and girls to make them pay attention to you. They all wanted to do it with Itachi, but Deidara was much more willing to respond then Itachi did. Not today apparently, Itachi noticed as Deidara ignored them, continuing to read. Itachi silenced the girls once again.

"Want a ride?"

He might have been deaf to women voices, but he heard Itachi, looking up again at him. Itachi suddenly had a feeling that'd been exactly what the blond had been waiting for, though not expecting or counting on it. He nodded and gathered up his things, ignoring the sad whines of the girls as Itachi opened his thankfully large umbrella and held it over the both of them as they walked the nearly empty parking lot towards Itachi's car.

When they were in the car, Itachi didn't pull away, still waiting out the rain a little while longer. Deidara didn't object; he just opened his book again and started reading. They sat in a very loud silence, the rain heavy on his roof top. Itachi thought of starting on his own homework. Nah, too tight a space. Turning the radio on was sounding appealing, except for the pissed off blond he'd have in his car. Glancing over at the work the blond had going, he frowned slightly.

"That answer's wrong," he said, pointing to the math problem Deidara had just finished. "Check it again."

Looking up, Deidara gave him a nasty look but did what he said. A few minutes later he spoke again, sounding very unsure. "X equals... eight?" he asked, looking up at him.

Itachi nodded, "that's right. What are you doing so much homework for?" he asked, finally voicing the question that had been on his mind. He expected Deidara to get mad at him again, but the blond just stared hard at his work and mumbled in answer. "What? I couldn't hear you."

"I'm being blackmailed, un," he said a little louder. "I have to pass this grade or I'm in major trouble, un. Except I don't fucking know anything in any of this shit and I don't want to go to fucking jail!"

Deidara's outburst left the car in a ringing silence. Itachi just stared at him, completely surprised by it. He would have normally took Deidara's flushed cheeks as embarrassment and teased him, but instead he asked him softly, "why would you go to jail for not passing?"

"I'm on probation, un," Deidara muttered, slouching low in the seat. "I got into some stuff on Halloween and the judge wouldn't try me as an adult like your father wanted. Instead she issued that I had to stay in school and pass and if I failed or got suspended, I'd go right back to be reconsidered... possibly tried as an adult."

Itachi let out a low whistle. It was already half way through the second quarter, it'd be hard to make up his grades that fast. His father really hated Deidara... almost as much as Itachi hated his father. He hated his father for what he did to him, disgusted by how he was just a gruff saint in front of his mother. His mother's happiness was the only thing holding him back from exposing his father for the abusing fake he was. It would crumble a little with that kind of trouble. Instead he found ways to get under his father's skin, usually with in the safety zone of Mikoto's presence, and another was slowly creeping up into his thoughts.

It would be risky. He'd never used another person before and Fugaku had already demonstrated that he didn't mind beating on Deidara, but if it was carefully planned, the two of them could make Fugaku squirm with the want to wring their necks. With his mother around, that would be impossible. It was perfect.

"I could tutor you if you wanted," Itachi said, glancing over at Deidara. Only thing left was to convince Deidara to do so. The blond's expression of disbelief that he'd even ask such a question made Itachi shrug. "I have the highest GPA in the school, you know. Four years running. I've aced every class and every test. I—"

"Everyone knows that, un. You don't have to show off about it, un," Deidara snapped in an unimpressed voice.

"I'm not," Itachi said, finally starting the car up and pulling out of the parking lot. It was still pouring down rain so he drove slower then usual. "I'm just ... trying to be helpful, maybe get on your good side. Daichi's or the apartment?"

"Daichi's," Deidara replied, closing his book and staring out the windshield in thought. He was considering it, Itachi saw. If he found out he was only using him to get under his father's skin, he had a feeling there'd be revengeful torture in his future. Either that or Deidara would like the idea and act on it too. Perhaps even to get what Itachi originally wanted from the blond. He didn't like him, but the fact that he was the only person ever to turn him down... well that had plucked a few cords in his ego, making Deidara a goal. A target. He wouldn't like that either if he found out, but once Itachi got what he wanted, there wasn't much else the blond could do. He might suggest to his parents putting up extra security measures afterwards though... and cut down that tree Deidara had been using to climb through his window.

"I'll think about it," Deidara finally told him as he pulled up to the garage, covering his books with his bag and getting out to hurry inside before they got too wet.

Not a promise, but promising. That was an improvement.


	10. Chapter 10

**Twilight**

**Chapter 10  
**

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Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

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Itachi was starting to feel sorry for Deidara. He wasn't dumb enough to say so out loud, but he was. Ever since the rest of the... group? Team? Gang? What exactly did those who worked for Daichi call themselves? Well, when they found out Deidara was hunkering down to study instead of race, to grade his mock test scores instead of working on cars, to read text books instead of go clubbing, to ask a question about science instead of engines, their teasing went up so much that Deidara was starting to spend less time away from his two living areas. He stayed at school until a teacher or librarian told him he had to leave; stayed in the bookstore until it closed, but being one to stay up later, he was having difficulty finding a place to stay later and not get bombarded with teases.

Every day after school when he didn't have practice, Itachi was at Daichi's garage learning about working on cars. He had thought he knew a great deal about cars when he went into the shop, but Daichi proved that he still had a lot to learn. He wasn't just learning about cars either, he was learning about all the other workers there as well. Each one had a different personality, but none of them interested him like Daichi and Deidara. He was beginning to be able to pick out what person Deidara would leave with on a Friday or Saturday night, coming back late in the night long after Itachi left. He hated them all for what they were putting the blond through. Daichi did as well, though he didn't voice it. Whenever their cars pulled up, Itachi would see him stop what he was doing and grip whatever tool was in his hand until Deidara was gone as though physically holding himself back from stopping Deidara from going.

One night Itachi stayed late working on his own car with instructions left from Daichi. He'd seen Deidara come inside, acting normal, though a little sluggish from something he'd drank. Once the door was shut and locked behind him, he got half way through the garage heading towards the bunks before staggering and tripping over an empty floor, groaning softly. Itachi almost went over to see if he was alright, but decided not too as he watched the blond drag himself like he was in pain up to his bed. The next day he hadn't gotten out of bed until late in the afternoon, and even then he hadn't come down. Itachi had kept his distance from him then, but was surprised when no one offered him help. Even Daichi left him on his own to finally crawl down to use the bathroom and dig something out of the kitchen to eat before limping back to the bunks to do his school work.

Itachi couldn't imagine living like that, and even though he despised what he saw at times, it fascinated him. He wanted to know how it felt to live like that. It seemed painful to him, but if it was then why would he let his life progress like this? It was like reading one of his mystery books, only it was watching it unfold before his eyes, unable to look back and reread something that happened so he could understand what was going on in the blond's head. He seemed so utterly predictable, yet at the same time, he couldn't fit pieces together. He wished he could ask him questions to understand better, but the blond continued to ignore him. Itachi kept his word by not speaking to him and keeping out of his way, though his eyes watched the blond's movements when he could. Studying and saving information for later analysis.

It was Deidara who broke the silence between them. Itachi had been sitting at the kitchen counter with a drink, reading over a magazine with car part listings. Daichi had told him to learn the listings and find what places sold a certain product he wanted. His reading was disrupted as the blond dropped himself heavily on the chair across from him, staring straight at him. It had been a while since the horrid night Itachi had seen him arrive back from, the blond looked better then he had the two days afterwards, but Itachi recalled noting as he looked up from the magazine that the blond looked a little stretched and at his wits end.

"Help me," he had said monotonously, "please."

"With what?" had been Itachi's reply.

"School."

That had been a week ago, since then Itachi had been spending an hour's less time on cars and spending it instead on Deidara. He showed him how to make outlines for the chapters in his books to help him study, answering questions the blond had when he didn't understand something, reteaching him how to do math problems. When he'd first offered, Itachi hadn't thought Deidara would be so cooperative, but he was very willing to learn.

"What exactly are you on probation for?" Itachi finally asked one afternoon. They had gone to Itachi's house after school instead of the garage, sitting on the kitchen counter while Mikoto made that night's dinner. Deidara seemed particularly thrilled about this, especially when not only had he been invited to stay for dinner, but he was also allowed to taste test anything she was making. Itachi had waited until Mikoto left to pick up Sasuke from his friend's house to ask. It'd been plaguing him since he found out.

"Remember on Halloween that bombing that happened downtown?" Deidara started with, watching Itachi check his math work. "A friend and I got really high and decided to rid the poor over worked office people of the source of their stress, un. A present from us in celebration of Halloween."

Itachi froze with his pen poised over the paper, then slowly lifted his eyes to stare at Deidara in disbelief. "You destroyed the police office there," he stated, unable to believe that he'd done something like that.

"Well that one was a little deliberate, un," he said with a sheepish look. He munched on a piece of cheese from the grated pile not far from his hand then took a drink of the cranberry juice Mikoto had offered him as Itachi shook himself out of his stupor to finish grading the paper.

"Eighty," Itachi told him, handing the paper back. "Not bad."

"It's still only forty really, un," he grumbled looking over the paper. Itachi hadn't written on the page since it was getting turned in, this half credit business was killing him. Though, as his history teacher had told him, it was better then a zero. Actually Itachi was saying that right now.

Mikoto came in a few minutes later with Itachi's younger brother in tow. He greeted Deidara and his brother, sounding pleased when he learned Deidara was staying for dinner. The door opened again to let Fugaku in, home from work almost at the same time Mikoto returned. The two at the counter froze, Itachi suddenly finding the granite counter fascinating. Deidara was staring right at him, uncaring to the surprised look Fugaku had that slowly melted into the core of the earth type of rage. Itachi risked a glance to see the transition, carefully hiding the nasty smirk that wanted to creep onto his face. In the Torment Father with Deidara game, Itachi was up one point.

"What is this?" the head Uchiha asked, trying hard to keep his voice neutral in front of Mikoto. A glance at Deidara showed Itachi that the blond had that quickly caught on that Mikoto didn't know of Fugaku's nasty side. If he had he would not have tried to hide his anger.

Mikoto went over to her husband and kissed him sweetly, taking his coat from him. "Itachi's helping one of his friend's from school catch up on his grades," she told him, getting him a glass of ice water as he moved into the kitchen.

Fugaku made a grunt, purposefully not looking at the two of them to help his own self control as Mikoto made him taste the mushroom sauce she'd made for their spaghetti. Yes, he loved it. Everything you make is delicious. Another kiss exchanged and Fugaku was going up the stairs to take a shower.

"Why don't you two finish upstairs in your room Itachi?" Mikoto suggested as Sasuke sat down on the counter. "You'll distract Sasuke from his homework and I have a few more things to do for dinner. You have about... an hour."

Ignoring Sasuke's reproach that they wouldn't distract him, Deidara and Itachi moved their things up the stairs to Itachi's room. Itachi finally got to let out the smirk that he'd been holding back. Perfect. It had gone perfect. Just like he planned it. He felt like he would clasp his hands together and snicker deviously except the door slammed behind him and Deidara locked the door. Straightening up his face, Itachi turned to face the blond, a suspicious look on his face as he silently challenged Itachi to a staring contest. Itachi won. Yay.

"What are you up too, un?" Deidara demanded, folding his arms.

Itachi feigned innocence. "Nothing," was his reply. He watched Deidara study him, trying to figure out if he was lying or not, but the blond either gave up, or decided to think on it later because he dropped his arms and climbed up onto his bed. Stretched out on his stomach on the bed, Itachi had a nice view of Deidara's butt in his jeans. He said nothing so it wouldn't go away.

He said nothing, but that didn't stop him from climbing on top of him. Deidara jumped slightly and twisted himself around onto his back, ready to yell and struggle, but Itachi clamped his mouth shut with his own hand, leaning down over top of him to keep him immobile. He growled for Deidara to settle down as his fists and fingers dug into Itachi's side and back. Finally catching one of his wrists with his free hand, Itachi twisted it painfully, watching Deidara wince, his mouth clamped shut on his own. He didn't cry out, but he did stop fighting him.

"What did I do to you?" Itachi demanded, his voice a low growl, threatening pain if he didn't answer him.

Azure eyes sharpened in anger, his struggle starting again, but another twist of his wrist held him still. Itachi removed his hand over his mouth a few inches in case he decided to answer. He did. "I hate you, un."

"Why? I've never done anything but kiss you," Itachi retaliated. "You say I'm just like those assholes you go out with at night, but I didn't offer to fuck you for money. And I definitely never hurt you like they do." Deidara opened his mouth to speak, but Itachi clamped it shut again. "I've seen you come home from your little night dates. You're a mess. I haven't done anything like that and you know it!"

"Does it bother you so much I'm the only person who ever said no to you, un?" Deidara snapped, glaring up at him.

Hitting the dead center of the target left Itachi startled into honesty, "yes," he replied.

"Get use to it, un," he snapped, jerking his hand from him and tried to shove him off from on top of him. Itachi wouldn't move, but took the opportunity to grab both of his hands and hold them down. A sudden movement threatened a kiss, Deidara turning his head to avoid it, but it only came to a soft brush against his cheek.

"I'm not like them," he felt Itachi whisper in his ear.

The weight shifted as Itachi got off him. The flick of a lighter, the exhale of smoke as Itachi moved over to sit at his desk. His rant of Deidara's behavior towards him done for the day, he'd gone to do his own homework before dinner at his own desk. He'd left Deidara on the bed untouched again, staring at him puzzled as he rubbed his wrist, confused once more.

Deidara had to admit, whether Itachi was using him or not, dinner that night was hilarious. Fugaku looked sick from the amount of self control he was using up not to leap across the table, sending spaghetti and sauce and quite possibly a few pieces of garlic bread to their doom on Mikoto's oriental rug she'd bought to cover up the blackened stain on the floor that she hadn't been able to quiet get up and attack the blond sitting directly across from him in between Sasuke and Itachi.

Had he known of Itachi's plan he would have realized that every time he said "could you pass the water please, Mr Uchiha, un!" in a rot your teeth sweet voice, Itachi was doing a little jig and a butt wiggle dance. In his head of course. Itachi wouldn't be caught dead doing either in reality. In fact, the very idea that he was thinking it in his head would make him frown at himself and stuff another mouthful of spaghetti to devour the image. Fugaku's expression did make him want to at least burst into a very uncharacteristic giggle. Everything was working so perfectly.

Deidara did not know all this, but still continued his own torture of Fugaku throughout the meal. Whenever Mikoto wasn't looking his direction, Deidara could see pain and death in his future. Lots of pain. That was then this was now, so he smiled oh so charmingly and politely asked him to pass the bread ("If you please, sir!"). Itachi had to get up twice to use the restroom during the meal which made Deidara suspicious, but Fugaku's story of his day fought the thoughts out.

"It was good," was the grunt in response to Mikoto's question.

"Just good sir? You didn't fight any crime today? Take down the bad guys?" Deidara asked, innocently wide eyed. Even Sasuke was catching on now, pretending to choke on his water when he really was covering up a laugh. He thought he heard Itachi come down stairs then turn around and go back up.

"...No."

"Deidara, how was school?" Mikoto asked him, after giving her husband a reproachful look for his uninformative answers. She spoke to him with her eyes, telling him that he was an innocent boy and was only curious. What boy wasn't curious about cops?

"It was great," Deidara said, in a perky manner, entertaining Sasuke now as well as Itachi on the steps with a pillow over his mouth. "I aced a test in math and my teacher said my grade is going up," he said this pointedly to Fugaku, "immensely, un."

"Wonderful!" Mikoto said, happy for him. "Itachi's tutoring is really helping you."

Deidara gave a little shrug and smiled. "He's been helping me a lot over the past... week." He didn't bother to cover up the smug grin as Fugaku's fork came down a little hard on his plate, his head turning in Itachi's direction as he came into the room again, but gave a sigh like a steam engine and apologized for the loud noise, continuing with his dinner.

Another week passed quite similar to the last. Similar confrontations with Fugaku occurred, Itachi making sure Mikoto was home before letting Deidara come into the house. He didn't want the blond to get hurt, but didn't mind using him to make his father angry which could possibly bring him harm. It was a strange twist of thought. He couldn't figure out if Deidara had caught onto him yet and was just pretending he hadn't, or perhaps he had and didn't care. He had his doubts on that one... Deidara didn't seem like he'd allow him to get away with something like this. After hearing all that Daichi had told him, Deidara would rather commit suicide then let someone use him for their own purposes while he got nothing in return.

They were laying on Itachi's bed studying. Itachi had AP Chemistry to study for so he let Deidara do his own mock tests in the book. They'd been working since eleven, forgotten lunch with Mikoto out doing her Saturday errands, and now – Itachi rubbed his eyes to look at the clock by his bed – it was nearly three in the afternoon. A glanced over at his study partner found that the blond had fallen asleep on top of his math book. He was pleased to see he'd at least gotten a lot done before he passed out.

Giving him a shake to wake up, Itachi grinned. "Nice nap?" he questioned as the blond yawned and stretched.

"Yeah," was the mumbled reply. "Sorry if I drooled on your bed, un.."

"You didn't, not even on your book," Itachi told him, picking up his work and sat up to check it.

Deidara scoffed a little and sat up against his headboard. "Why bother with that, un?" he asked, looking over at Itachi. "I didn't know shit when I was doing it, un." He was tired, sick of studying, sick of not going out as much. He wanted a good high and a good night of partying. What was so wrong about it? But no, Itachi had him studying almost every day. His grade was improving, his guidance councilor had even pulled him out of homeroom to congratulate him. He'd replied blandly with a great big whoopee-doo and missed the rest of homeroom as he talked his way into a free breakfast in the cafeteria.

"You trust your abilities so little?" Itachi asked, looking up in surprise. He hadn't expected it from the blond. A sudden thought came to mind, forcing him to hold back a grin. "I'll make a bet with you. If you get a ninety percent or higher, I win."

Deidara gave him a disbelieving look. Him get a ninety? The highest he'd ever gotten was an eighty and it hadn't been on math. "What do you win, un?" he asked, folding his arms.

Itachi thought for a moment. "A kiss."

Deidara gave a fake laugh, "no."

Despite his refusal, Itachi gave a smug look. "Shy? Or scared you'll loose?" he questioned.

"What do I get if I win?" Deidara questioned. "An eighty-nine or lower. You have to take me out tonight to the club and buy me drinks, some powder and then leave. No baby sitting, un."

Itachi frowned a little. Deidara was trying to get a free night off him with the bet. "I've heard how much you can put away," Itachi protested. "I should get a bit more then a kiss."

Deidara snorted and leaned back again. "So grade it, un," he said pointing at the papers in his hand.

Rolling his eyes he picked up the first paper and began grading. He still felt a sense of achievement from this. Deidara thought so little of his skills that he was willing to bet on this. If he lost he had to kiss him. Itachi was definitely going to get a feel-sky with this too. Deidara might protest, but he seemed to have forgotten to disagree when Itachi mentioned getting more then a kiss.

Four papers graded in silence later, Itachi lifted his head to looked Deidara who'd been staring at him since he started. Itachi handed the papers to Deidara with a blank face. Deidara grinned at him, then looked down at the slip of paper Itachi had used to write the scores down so Deidara could turn the paper in.

"...Ninety-five!?" Deidara cried in disbelief. He gave Itachi a look. "What did you do to it to make it so high? You just wanted to win, un!"

Itachi snickered and shook his head. "I didn't do anything. You were watching me grade it, how can you say I did something?" he asked, smirking. When Deidara didn't reply, Itachi smirked and leaned forward. Deidara inched back but the headrest stopped him from going too far. What was it about him that repulsed Deidara so much. He'd never given him a real answer. The reasons he'd given him didn't add up, didn't make sense. He wanted to understand, but he had a feeling Deidara didn't even know the answer. Maybe he was just stubborn.

"Baby," Itachi whispered, sliding his hand behind Deidara's neck to pull him into the kiss. Deidara fought it, but stopped as Itachi's lips met his own. Movements frozen, he debated arguing that Itachi said he would kiss him, not Deidara kiss him back, but as Itachi's lips moved against his own, he couldn't help kiss him back. Itachi eased him down on the bed, leaning over him as he kissed him. Deidara wasn't fighting back anymore, kissing him back as though it was his idea, his hand sliding up on Itachi's neck to pull him closer against him. Grinning down at him, Itachi let his hands do their own roaming over his body.

"Hey!" Deidara snapped as Itachi's hands snaked a little too low in his opinion.

"Hey yourself," Itachi growled back, though he was smirking at him. "I told you I'd be getting more then just a kiss." Before Deidara could protest any more, Itachi pressed his lips against him again, his hand pushing passed the one Deidara was using to block him from going lower and groped over him. He was pleased to hear a groan coming from the blond. He was at least enjoying this, despite his protests and stubbornness.

Their make out session was interrupted as Itachi was dragged off him roughly, grunting as he hit the floor. Deidara started in surprise, but a hand came across his face before he could see what had happened. That alone explained what happened without his sight.

"You..." Fugaku was beside himself with rage. Mikoto hadn't returned from her errands before Fugaku had come home. "Get out of his house! Now!"

Itachi pushed himself off the floor and moved between his father and Deidara as the Uchiha started to reach over from where the blond was holding his face where Fugaku had punched him. "He's not bothering you, get out of my room!" he snapped at him, eyes blazing in anger at the disruption and intrusion.

"And you," the head Uchiha glowered at his son. "Letting this scum into my house, knowing it would piss me off. Knowing I wouldn't allow it!"

Downstairs a door opened and shut. "I'm home!" came the cheery call of Mikoto as she came into the house. "Honey? Could you help me with the groceries?"

Fugaku gave a shuddering groan of frustration as he stormed down the stairs, grumbling the excuse of a bad day to her when she asked what was wrong. Itachi gave a huge sigh of relief, dropping down on the bed, hands in his head. That had been so close... wait.

"Are you okay?" he asked, turning to face Deidara, remembering he'd gotten struck. Taking his head in his hands, he moved closer to him and tilted his head to the side to see it, ignoring the blond's protests, though they were meager. "Fuck... I'm sorry... I didn't mean for you to get hurt... I—"

"Just wanted to use me to piss off your father, un?" Deidara asked, staring at the wall. Itachi started to protest, but stopped and watched him get up to stuff his things into his side bag, climbing out the window to get away, not wanting to meet Fugaku again.

"Wait, Deidara!" he said, hurrying to the window. Deidara paused in the tree, looking back at him, but when Itachi found his tongue tied in a million knots he just dropped down and walked away, leaving Itachi with the urge to bash his head against the window pane.


	11. Chapter 11

**Twilight**

**Chapter 11  
**

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Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

**Not from Shul: **Sorry for the long awaited update, I've been busy at work and stuff and forget I have Twilight posted elsewhere.  
If you want to read up to what I have written you can look at my LJ, **ArtisticallySet**, I update that more then anything.

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Despite his loss in the bet, Deidara got his night out to party like he wanted. It was free too, though Itachi wasn't the one paying for it. Everyone had missed him. Everyone wanted to know where he had been. Everyone wanted to celebrate his return. If it wasn't for the bitterness he'd left the Uchiha estate with, it would have been an excellent night. He lost count of his drinks, forgotten in the blur of dancing bodies, the buzz of drugs. He enjoyed himself, but there was still the edge of angry disappointment in him. He hadn't known. Suspected, but hadn't known. He had thought his offer of tutoring was the attempts to get closer to him, trying to get him to do what he wanted; maybe impress Daichi, get up on his good side. To get his father angry... to get back at him for his cruelty towards Itachi. Perhaps it was a little of it all. Itachi'd got it all. He'd been played like a deck of cards. 

Arms slid around his waist, hands on his body. Whether he wanted them or not, they'd be there. "Deidara, you okay?" a voice called over the loud speakers of the club. A smile, a nod. Yes he was fine of course. He gave them a kiss as they led him over to the bar, buying him another drink. The bar tender gave him a second glance. That meant ten. His clubbing friends had bought him ten different drinks. A second glance was ten... a few more then that was a frown and they stopped you after fifteen. He'd been doing this for too long.

Too long, but he wouldn't pass up another drink. Even so, the glass was taken away from him. Protests from behind him showed that it wasn't the way the night was to go. "Hey! Gimme my—" he stopped, mouth clamping shut when he saw who was holding his drink. "Daichi..."

"That's enough, Dei," the mechanic said softly, just loud enough to be heard. "Come with me."

"Hey, come on, man, we're having a good time. Aren't we, Deidara?" the drink buyer protested, his arms going around Deidara's waist, mouth moving closer to his neck.

Deidara glanced down at the floor of the club he could barely see. Daichi hated his habits, hated his nights out with the filthy rich who liked wasting their money. Hating his drinking, hated his drugs. The look on his face could kill. No one else would know it but those close to him, but that was his killer face.

"I suggest you get your hands off of him before I force you too," Daichi said in a cold voice. Obeying the silent command, Deidara slipped out of the man's resistant hold and went to stand next to Daichi. "He's past his bed time today. Maybe another time."

"Daichi, what are you doing, un?" Deidara demanded as he was led out of the club. The red Z was sitting in front of the doors waiting for them.

Daichi didn't speak to him until they were inside the car, pulled off and driving down the road. "You were supposed to be with Itachi," Daichi said, not as coldly as he'd spoken to the man he'd been with, but still on warning edge.

"He's an ass, un!" Deidara insisted, clenching his fists together. "He's just being nice to get on your good side and to piss of his father, un. I wont let--"

"You were supposed to race tonight. Did you forget?" Daichi asked in response. "You were supposed to bring Itachi in so he could learn more about the racing to get him on the road." He watched Deidara's face freeze in remembrance. He wouldn't be much with the amount of alcohol he'd consumed, but at least he looked upset about it. Closing his eyes a moment, Daichi took a breath to calm himself down. He worked hard at keeping himself calm, rarely raising his voice in anger. Not like he use to be. Deidara had seen both sides of that card and knew how angry he could be and how he expressed it, but he refused to be that way anymore. Not with the way things would be in his house four months time.

"I'm sorry Daichi, un," he heard Deidara murmur to fill the awkward silence that had filled the car. "I was just pissed off... I wouldn't have done much good either way tonight, un."

"If your suspicions were true, why are you so upset?" Daichi asked, continuing on after pausing at a light.

Curling up on the seat, Deidara rest his head against the cool window before answering. "It was nice to feel like I had a friend that didn't treat me like shit, un," Deidara replied. "I mean... besides you, un. And even you can't stand me some times."

Giving a soft chuckle, Daichi pulled to a stop in front of the apartment building, shifting into neutral and turned to face him. "Being friends doesn't mean you have to stand each other every minute of the day," he told him as Deidara looked over at him through the sweat clung strands of his hair. "Payday's tomorrow... get a good night sleep. And don't come in grumpy," he added as Deidara grinned and got out of the car.

"Hey, Daichi?" Deidara said, leaning against the open window. "Sorry you lost out tonight because of me, un..."

Another chuckle came from the man as he shifted gears once more. "I didn't. When you didn't show to pick up your bike, we decided to test drive your boy," Daichi said, sitting back in his seat comfortably. "You have a good eye Dei, even when you're pissed as hell."

* * *

"Cash?" 

"No, rich boy. Did you think Daichi's just gonna hand you a traceable check?"

Several people laughed as though an inside joke had been told and the Uchiha standing in front of the new lifts that had been installed with several hundred dollar bills in his hand, not really understanding it. He'd received a text as Daichi told him the night before to signal his need to show up. When he had he'd been startled to find all the people on Daichi's racing team standing around talking. He'd never seen them all at one place at the same time.

"You don't think I make you all work for free, do you?" Daichi had asked with an amused grin on his face. Everyone who didn't work in the garage received a percentage of the winnings. Those that worked as well received pay. Some people raced for the cars, not the money. Race enough, you earn the car of your choice to call your own. Itachi hadn't expected to get this much for racing just one night, but Daichi told him it was for working as well, and for tutoring Deidara.

"I offered, it was just a favor," Itachi insisted, but Daichi just shook his head and told him he didn't want to hear arguments against it.

The others had gone, the shop was closed for the day so everyone could go do what they wanted to with their money. Save it, spend it, gamble it. It was their money now. Itachi stayed behind, offering to help out with anything Daichi needed while the others were away. The money in his pocket; the first he'd ever earned himself. It almost made him feel proud, despite that it was earned illegally.

"Honey, I have a straggler for you," came a woman's voice Itachi recognized and pinpointed as Rin. Daichi got up with a warm smile, going over to help her into his chair, though she protested with the same giggle a teenager would give when their boyfriend opens the door for them on their first date. She kissed him as he rubbed her swollen stomach, letting him sit down on the arm of the chair as he questioned what straggler he was talking about.

The straggler in question walked into Daichi's office with a tuna sandwich from the kitchen. For the first time since he'd known him, Deidara looked shy walking into the room. He smiled shyly as he walked in, ignoring Itachi as though he wasn't in the room, but that would be expected.

"Morning, sunshine," Daichi commented with a grin, getting up and going over towards him to pat his shoulder and smile. "How's your head?"

"Been better," Deidara admitted with a shrug, stuffing the rest of the sandwich into his mouth and went over towards Rin when she beckoned. Taking his hands, she put them over her belly. Itachi watched with mild fascination as Deidara gave a tiny smile, murmuring that the baby was kicking. It made Itachi remember when Mikoto was pregnant, it made him smile a little himself, but Deidara seemed completely out of place with the delicacy of pregnancy and babies. Well, he was a known demolition artist, that might explain it.

Reaching into his drawer, Daichi pulled out a stack of bills similar to Itachi's though it looked a little bigger and handed it to Deidara. The shy nervous grin was replaced by a smirk as the more familiar substance was moved from his hands to his pocket. He stood back tugging his jacket tighter. "Thanks, Daichi," he said, smirking at him.

Glancing briefly at Itachi, Daichi leaned forward to whisper in his ear. Deidara listened then gave a little sigh and nodded. He complained as Daichi ruffled his hair, though it was with a laugh. "Hey, come here," Daichi said, motioning to the blond to follow him into the car room.

Watching them go, Itachi was starting to wonder what it was that he was going to do today. How he would spend his own money. New books? Save for new car parts? He didn't know. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his name from the woman sitting on the chair.

"We never really properly met," she said, smiling at him as she pushed her dark hair away from her face. "I'm Rin, Daichi's wife. You know... I've never seen Deidara so stumped with a person before," she said with a smile.

"Everyone seemed to associate the two of us together," Itachi commented with a short shrug. "He's not stumped he's pissed... he wants me to go away."

"He's just as interested in you, Itachi, as you are to him," Rin told him with a small laugh. "He likes you, you know. The reason he's so frustrated around you is because you 'one up' him on the cool calm factor and he doesn't know what to do with you. He's pissed off now because he thought you as the closest thing to a friend he's ever had, then turned on him."

"I didn't..." he started, then stopped. Deidara's accusations came back to his mind. He was just like them. And he was right. He used him for his own manipulations, willing to toss him away. "I just... I don't know."

Rin smiled at him and leaned back in the chair, rubbing her stomach softly. "He's a lot better when you're around, you know," she told him, playing with one of Daichi's pens. "He respects you cause you respect him."

Itachi nearly snickered at the thought, remembering like echoes in his head the things Deidara said to him, accused him of. "What makes you think that?" he questioned.

"I've known Dei since he was ten," she told him with a grin. "He's been here with us longer then the others, I've seen him grow up and even though I don't know him as well as Daichi..." She looked towards the door as the two came back into the room. Daichi smiled at Rin and went to sit down on an extra chair next to her. Something seemed different, Itachi noted, Daichi looked rather pleased with himself and it wasn't until Deidara spoke in a barely audible voice that he figured out what it was.

"Um, Itachi? Could you.. drive me to the mall, un?" the blond asked, folding his arms and not looking at him. "Please," he added, chewing on his lower lip.

Startled, Itachi looked from the two sitting down to the blond standing close to him. They were in on it together, the sneaks. Itachi couldn't see what it was he did to Deidara that made him as different as Rin said, but they seemed in a hurry to keep that difference happening. "Sure," he replied to his question.

Giving him a short nod, Deidara turned on heel and walked for the door. All Itachi could manage was a look at the seated ones before following him out to the RX sitting just inside the garage door. A beep to unlock the doors and they were in, driving down the busy road towards the mall which was sure to be packed given it was a Saturday afternoon. Five street lights later and they hadn't spoken a work to each other. It was a silence that wanted to be filled with something. What did Deidara listen to anyway? Itachi had no clue, so he didn't touch the radio.

"I'm sorry," Itachi finally said, wanting the silence to end. "I'm sorry... you were right. I am just like them. Just... in a different way." There he said it. An apology. He could have pat himself on the back for that one. He hated apologizing. He was as bad at them as he was forgiving and forgetting something. Itachi liked to keep everything filed away in his mind for later use.

"It's alright, I'm use to it, un."

Ouch. Wince. That wasn't the forgiving answer he was hoping to receive, and the mental pat on the back became a smack in the face. Itachi glanced over at the blond staring out the window looking deep in thought. Itachi liked reading mysteries, getting into the criminal's mind and figuring out the book before it was over, reading over the clues and piecing their minds together to figure them out. He prided himself on this ability, but Deidara had him completely stumped. He could predict what reaction he would make given a situation, but he couldn't tell what or how the blond was thinking. It's what fascinated him more then anything else.

"What are you getting at the mall?" Itachi asked, trying hard for some form of conversation.

Deidara's response was short, to the point. He didn't seem to feel comfortable being friendly yet. "Daichi says its going to get cold soon," he told him. "I need new things for winter, un."

"Why are you going to the mall then? Why not go to one of the bigger clothings stores and get real clothes? And a bed and blankets?" Itachi asked, frowning in thought as he turned the corner.

"Because once I set aside the shit for school, and the other stuff, I wont have that much left," Deidara explained in a particularly annoyed voice.

Ah, that's right. The new semester was coming up, that meant new books and spring uniforms. The school was free to attend, but they still managed to squeeze money out of you with uniforms, books and supplies. Christmas was coming up soon too, and he could only assume that drugs were also included in the 'other stuff' category.

"I'll make a deal with you," Itachi said, glancing over at him as he stopped in front of the mall, pulling the emergency brake up to keep the car from drifting away. "I'll pay for the winter stuff, if you help me find something for my mom, buy us lunch and talk to me."

The glare he gave him was more confused then angry. "You want to pay for all my stuff?" he asked, making sure he heard right. "It's your money, un."

"Like everyone keeps reminding me, I've got plenty more," Itachi said, shrugging as he got out. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll use the money my father gave me to pay for it all." He snickered then realized what he said and stopped. "I didn't think it would go that far. I didn't want you hurt, but after seeing you going at it too, I didn't think you'd care."

Deidara got out of the car and folded his arms to keep his jacket tight. After he shut the door, Itachi locked it with the remote on his keys and walked with him towards the door to the mall. "It was nice to hang out with someone who didn't just want to get something from me, un," Deidara muttered. "I mean... you really thought that I'd do better in school... no one else would give a shit except Daichi and Rin and they don't have time to help me."

"I'm still willing to tutor you, if you want," Itachi said, going inside with him. Yes, he was right, the place was filled with people of all heights and ages, mostly teenagers. Deidara made a noise as he walked towards the small thrift store, but Itachi took his shoulder and steered him over towards a different store. "I've seen you wear really nice clothes," Itachi spoke his thoughts aloud. "How come you usually wear the more run down clothes?" He was glad Deidara was speaking to him again, trying to prompt more out of him.

"Those clothes are for clubbing," Deidara explained, glancing at a pair of jeans. Itachi made a motion that he could get what ever he wanted, so he took one his size and went over to grab a few long sleeved shirts, another hoodie and a new jacket. "Or going out with people, un. Dressing like trash doesn't impress rich people. We don't just go home and do whatever they want to do. Usually I'm like their guest to a dinner at a fancy restaurant somewhere, so I have to dress nice."

Itachi gave a little nod, understanding and storing the knowledge for later use. He didn't know much about people like that. He waited outside the dressing room as Deidara tried on his clothes to make sure they fit before paying for them. After doing so, they went out and walked around, talking about cars and the race Itachi made the night before since Deidara had missed it. The blond wanted to know everything. Who he'd been racing, what car, what was at stake? Itachi couldn't help but smirk as he told him.

"Itachi!" Daichi had called as he returned from where he'd been in discussion with another man. Itachi had one again stayed away from all the noise and partiers. He felt so out of place it was making him want to go home, so he he tried hard to focus on the business part of it all. There was never a pattern to the meets, it kept people at bay. The top guys in the group would pick a day and they'd tell their people, who'd tell their friends, who'd invite others. Sometimes it was in a different location; at a deserted street instead of the lot. Being out in the open gave the cops false hopes. You had to be told the location so you couldn't just show up without someone inviting you. Daichi had called him after the sun had gone down asking for Deidara. When Itachi had told him what happened, he'd been given the directions to the place to come too.

"Would you like to race tonight?" the mechanic had asked him when he approached. "Deidara isn't here and they're willing to race the new rookie on my team instead." He grinned at him and brushed his hand through his spiked hair. "I think they're underestimating your abilities, but what do you say? You can back out if you want for tonight since it's only your second time."

"No, I can race," Itachi told him with a nod. "I'm not interested in all this other stuff." he made a motion towards the partying going on around them. It made Daichi laugh as he told him to bring his car to the starting line, muttering the few rules quickly before he got into his car.

The car he was facing was a Nissan 350, the orange and black paint job wouldn't have been his first choice, but the engine purred contently from where it waited at the starting point. His Mazda pulled up next to it, purring just as readily. He hadn't had a chance to test out the modification and tune ups. It made him excited and nervous at the same time, but he trusted Daichi's work.

Itachi had never raced inside of a building in a parking lot before, his heart was pounding with anticipation and excitement. He'd only raced on the mountain or on a street before. Eyes narrowed as he examined the road before him. The parking structure's roads would be slicker, giving the car an easier slide, like newly paved road. It'd be hard to get the car back into control if it spun out, but it would make drifting around the tight corners easier.

Ready...

Set...

"GO!"

Squealing tires barely covered up the sound of cheers and screams of people racing after the cars that peeled down the strip towards the first curve. Both cars were fighting for a lead to get them around the corner first, but Itachi shifted at the last minute to pull up in front to take the curve, the tires screaming in protest against the pavement as the RX drifted smoothly into the next lift, taking the lead.

"The adrenaline wasn't anything like I felt before," Itachi told Deidara as they sat in the food court, eating lunch. Deidara had an extremely greasy, unhealthy looking slice of pizza with every topping imaginable, a container of fries and a chocolate milkshake. Itachi had a cold cut sandwich, a small salad and a bottle of flavored water. It was too cold for the track team, with the possibility of snow growing larger, but Itachi would still eat healthy. He'd offered Deidara a bite of his sandwich, but the blond informed him that he liked his fattening, unhealthy pizza and would gladly give him some if he wanted to try something normal for a change. Itachi had politely declined.

"It's fun isn't it, un?" Deidara questioned around a mouthful of fries. "You should see when there isn't any races and people show off on their bikes and such, un. It's really cool."

Itachi grinned a little as he filled his mouth with the tasty water. Deidara looked like he was enjoying himself. A few bags of clothes sat next to the blond's chair, full of new clothes and a few fleece blankets. Itachi had suggested them and a sleeping bag to keep in his room at the apartment. A trick he learned from his mother. She was more fond of fleece blankets in the winter then anything else.

"Do you on your bike?" Itachi asked after he swallowed, grinning as Deidara tried to eat the stretch of cheese from his mouth to the slice of pizza and answer at the same time. "I prefer cars over bikes," he added so Deidara didn't have to rush to finish his mouthful. "Feels safer. More control."

"I like it, un," Deidara told him after he'd taken a swallow of milkshake. "The wind rushing passed you... It feels great."

Itachi grinned and finished off his salad. "You'll have to take me for a ride sometime when the weather gets warmer; I'm not too fond of cold."

"Pussy," he accused him, snickering as he bit down on the last bit of crust. "Wanna go into the arcade before we go?" Crumpling up his trash, he tossed it into the trashcan near their table.

Itachi grimaced at the thought of an arcade. At the blond's questioning look to his expression, Itachi responded, "you want me to subject myself to the obnoxiously loud music, screaming kids, blaring games and bright lights that would not only give anyone in their right mind a headache, but makes you loose all the money you came with to buy something you could get at the dollar store for much less?"

Deidara just grinned and nodded, "yeah! Come on," he told him, getting up and heading towards the demon place itself. "We wont stay long, un," he assured him.

Groaning softly, Itachi followed him down the stairs towards the arcade after the blond's bouncing pony tail. Inside were running kids, yelling kids, whining kids... Itachi hated it, but Deidara wasn't stopping to play the games, he was dragging him to the back by a photo booth. Ugh, Itachi hated getting his picture taken.

Several minutes of fussing and bickering, and Deidara's ridiculous antics to get him to make any other expression other then his usual stoic one had them waiting out side of the booth for the photo's to print. Unfortunately, Deidara succeeded on that last two. In his final attempts, he had grabbed a handful of ass, making Itachi gasp and jump a little, which he was sure the camera caught, then another when he was glaring at Deidara who was giving him an innocent look. Ho-ho. At least it had amused the blond.

As they walked back to the car, Deidara giving orders to take him back to the apartment because he wanted to go back to sleep, Itachi wondered what the point of the photo booth had been. He didn't understand the point of taking a few tiny photographs with someone who made you mad more then anything else. As he unlocked the trunk, he was surprised to see Deidara carefully folding the slip so it wouldn't mess up the pictures and slip it into his wallet. He was saving it, Itachi realized in complete astonishment. Why? He didn't understand it.

Deidara was turning on some radio station the moment the car was turned on. Itachi let him; he didn't want to end the day out on a sour note.

i "...He's pissed off now because he thought you as the closest thing to a friend he's ever had..." /i

Ruby speckled eyes glanced over at the blond as they drove deeper into the city where the apartment was. Did he really have so few friends that would just want to hang out at the mall together? Or was it that he had them, but he couldn't talk as he did with them? Itachi would have to think on this more later when he was alone. Profiling Deidara was more complicated then any of the mystery books he'd read. In fact, he hadn't read one in quite a while. He wasn't taking up so much of his thoughts, but when he would sit down in the time he'd set aside for reading he nearly always ended up trying to mentally figure out the blond. When he realized it was happening, he grew irritated with himself, but seeing Deidara carefully storing away the picture like a keepsake of their time together made him want to smile.

A success he hadn't planned on, yet made him feel more satisfied then any of the others had.


	12. Chapter 12

**Twilight**

**Chapter 12**

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Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

**Not from Shul: **Sorry for the long awaited update, I've been busy at work and stuff and forget I have Twilight posted elsewhere.  
If you want to read up to what I have written you can look at my LJ, **ArtisticallySet**, I update that more then anything.

**Special Note for this chapter: **This chapter has been edited so that it is appropriate for most ages. To read the uncut, unedited chapter you'll need to friend the LiveJournal shown above. Sorry for those who have to miss out, but I don't want to get in trouble.

* * *

Tension is one of the things that doesn't requires a psychic's abilities to feel. Especially the jealous kind of tension. It hung invisible in the air, yet with the right push, could explode like a heavy thunderstorm that raged angrily for hours. It was also incredibly annoying when the tension is directed at yourself and you haven't the faintest clue why.

"What is going on?" Itachi whispered, finally snapping in irritation of it all to the blond sitting across from him in the kitchen area of the car garage. The blond looked up from his science book he was doing his homework from, a confused expression passing over his face. "Why does everyone suddenly hate me now?"

Despite his little explanation, Deidara still looked thoroughly confused. Okay, maybe Itachi was psychic. Either that or Deidara's senses were severely dulled. "What do you mean?" he asked, twirling his pen between his fingers. Much to Deidara's relief, the tutoring sessions had dwindled down to homework only now. Itachi was having him spend an house a day on homework and a quick study of the subjects. The blond was very grateful for both the continuing homework help as well as the diminish of time consuming and very boring studies.

Itachi folded his arms over his own text book, but didn't lean on it. His posture was too good for that. "Why does everyone seem to hate me all of a sudden?" Itachi asked, making a gesture towards the main garage.

Ever since he and Deidara had returned from their shopping trip it seemed to him that none of the people who worked and lived in the garage liked him. Except Daichi. Daichi couldn't be happier with him. Uchiha Itachi could practically do no wrong in his eyes. Perhaps that was the problem. Daichi and Rin had gotten what they wanted out of the two of them. Though a very odd one, a friendship had formed between them. When dealing with cars, or going out to buy special parts, they were usually together. A friendship it was, though more often then not, a nasty argument would spring up with neither of them speaking to each other. Itachi was more controlled then the blond. Deidara was almost spoiled with his temper, even turning over one of the large tool chests during one particular heated argument. Daichi had stepped it then and made them clean it up, then sent Deidara out of the garage to cool off. Still, there was some underlining tolerance between them. Deidara liked him because he didn't push for the thing that Itachi had been trying to take for himself. Itachi still wanted it, but he kept that desire hidden, content to stay as they were for now.

"I think you're seeing things, un." Though that contentment did have some annoying little complications, didn't it?

Itachi was certain he wasn't seeing things, and though he was sure he would figure it out eventually; it was starting to bother him. He watched Deidara pause with his pencil over his paper, waiting to see if Itachi was going to keep talking or not. This was usually an invitation to talk. Though they were getting along at times, Deidara didn't always want to talk.

"Hey, Deidara?" Itachi asked as though he hadn't noticed that he was waiting. Deidara glanced up at him again, chin resting on the open pages of the book to listen. "Why don't I ever see you race?"

The single most devious grin he'd ever seen spread across the blond's face when he heard his question. The blond sat up straighter and put his pencil down, a sure sign that Deidara had completely lost interest in studying now that there was a more entertaining subject to think on. He had to have undiagnosed ADD or something similar, there was no other explanation.

"People are too scared, un," was his short response despite that grin. It promised more to come after Itachi probed him some more. "I don't use cars, I use my bike, but I still race against cars."

Images of motorcycle verses a car came into Itachi's head. Then Deidara's driving against a car in those tight turns of the parking structure, combined with motorcycle accidents followed making him cringe a little. Maybe he shouldn't see Deidara race, it might not be good for his nerves. Deidara said people were scared, but it made him wonder if the blond was confusing fear for his safety with fear of his driving. The look on his face was misread by the blond, taking the fear of devastation as awe in his yet to be seen skills. Deidara leaned back with his fingers laced behind his head, ego apparent on his face.

"I've only lost once – well, twice, but one was against Daichi. The only reason I lost the other one is because the bitch I was racing got frustrated and slammed into me on purpose, un," Deidara told him solemnly. "I wasn't supposed to get out of bed for a few weeks, but it was nothing."

Ah, war wound stories.

"That's not the worse accident you've had on your bike?" Itachi questioned to give the audience Deidara obviously wanted. There was that grin again. How could anyone be so proud of their so careless acts?

"Nope!" Deidara replied, standing up and unbuttoned the white school shirt he hadn't taken off yet. Pushing it away and lifting up the tank top he was wearing underneath, he showed off his lean torso, more muscular then his feminine features displayed while covered. When inspected further, Itachi saw the skin was paler, newer then the other side, though it was hard to tell unless you were looking for some form of disfigurement. "I was trying out sharp turns on my bike going really fast to get better at it in the racings and lost traction with the street and skidded too far. The truck stopped, but it's front tire caught the front end of the bike as it was going horizontal with the road and dragged me around under the truck, un."

Like the good audience he was, Itachi gave a low hiss at the mental image he was getting from his description. One of the reasons he preferred cars to bikes was that cars were much safer then motorcycles. He didn't need to hear his father's rants and raves growing up about how someone had died in a motorcycle accident to think they were dangerous and reckless. He figured that one out on his own.

The blond was still showing off his scar, letting Itachi's eyes wander over his torso a moment, but it wasn't for the show. Something else had caught his eye. "What are these from?" he asked, leaning over the table to touch the deep looking scars that raked over his side over top of the crash scar. It looked like a giant cat had attacked him in some back alley, though he couldn't imagine what kind of Meow Mix that cat was eating.

He watched Deidara glance down to see what he was talking about before letting his shirt drop back down to cover the exposed skin. He looked grim, but not because of Itachi's question, going over to the bunks to climb up and change out of his school clothes. "Hey, only one scar story at a time, un!" he replied, covering up his previous expression with a laugh.

"At least tell me what demonic cat did that to you so I can be better prepared when I leave my house at night," Itachi joked, waiting as Deidara dressed, cleaning up their school books that most likely wouldn't be opened for the rest of the night. There was a race going on tonight, though he didn't know who was racing or if he was even needed. Daichi liked for him to be there anyway.

He heard Deidara laugh as he swung his legs over the side of the bunk to climb down, pulling a long sleeved t shirt on as he did. "It was a rare species of cat called a barbed wire fence, un," Deidara told him, but gave him a meaningful stare that Itachi decided was to remind him not to ask a question. One scar story at a time, Itachi huffed in distaste. That was a stupid rule, especially when the stories were as interesting as Deidara's. Some people were just accident prone, Deidara seemed to look for accidents then try to figure out the best way possible to make it ten times worse then it could have been for the average human being.

Giving Deidara a reproachful look at denying him the story, he stuffed his books back into his bag to drop in his trunk when it was time to leave. "Wait, aren't you going to the races too?" he asked him as Deidara laced up his thick, black steel toed boots. "I thought you liked getting all dazzled up..." Not that he had doubts Deidara would be able to dazzle someone wearing any variety of clothes, but he was use to leather, vinyl, tight jeans and skinny shirts, not loose jeans – though they were riding a bit low, he noted – and a plain long sleeved t shirt.

"So?" Deidara asked as he went into the bathroom to brush through his thick hair to pull it all back into a low ponytail, almost similar to his own.

"So why aren't you?" Itachi asked, silently irritated that Deidara was making him ask specific questions today instead of answering the question and all that it implied.

Deidara grinned at him in the mirror. "Tonight's your lucky night," Deidara replied, turning to walk out, throwing on a light hoodie then his faded leather jacket. "I'm racing tonight, un." 

* * *

The air in the lot was tighter tonight. Everyone was excited to see Deidara race, leaving only a few people off dancing, everyone else crowded around the racing track of the lot, getting into their favorite spots to get the best views of each angled turn. Despite the excitement around him, Itachi couldn't help but feel a cloud of impending doom that hung over him like a plague. It appeared as though Deidara could see it hanging over him, because the blond didn't look pleased that Itachi was the only person not psyched that he was racing. Even Daichi was a little excited underneath the ever present mask of calmness that munched silently on a small bag of mini chocolate chip cookies. Deidara swore to Itachi that it was there, but the mechanic looked the same as he always did to Itachi's untrained eye.

Just like cars, the bikes were raced two on two in the lot. Deidara's black bike stood next to his opponent's green one, helmets on and engines revving. Itachi knew as little about motorcycles as much as he knew about cars. The only thing he could tell was that the side of Deidara's bike said Suzuki on the side. He'd never seen a motorcycle race and flashes of news channels talking about crashes and someone was killed such and such a way were going through his mind, setting his heart in a racing panic.

"He's not afraid." Daichi's voice startled him out of what could have turned into hyperventilation.

"He should be!" Itachi hissed, glancing from Daichi to the two bikes and back. "Fear is a very valuable trait in the human make!"

A small grin spread across Daichi's lips a moment. "Yes, but Deidara believes that fear only holds us back from the things that we think we can't do, or can't stand. There are things he is afraid of, but his own life is not one of them."

"That's horrible," Itachi growled. "He could get himself killed!"

"It would make him laugh to hear you say that," Daichi told him. "Deidara thinks himself as invincible because nothing has killed him yet. Not even a leap off a building, miraculously." He chuckled at a memory Itachi wasn't sure if he wanted to know, then motioned for his attention to stay on the bikes. "The start of the race is one of the more exciting parts when bikes are racing. They're faster in the lots then cars, so we'll have to hurry to the elevators if you want to see the end."

Itachi's attention went to the start of the race as the man between them threw his hands down, shouting a word Itachi couldn't hear over the scream of the tires on the pavement and the roar of the watching crowd. When he was racing in his car, he would drive as fast as he could to the corner, but to make the drift smooth around the sharp corners he would have to shift down a gear and slow. As he watched them approach the corner he saw that neither slowed, both fighting for the first inner turn. A scream for him to slow down was on the tip of his tongue when Deidara's foot came off the side of the bike as they started to turn. At an acute angle with the pavement, he used his foot as a root to the ground for the brief half of a second he needed to jerk the bike around the corner, lifting it as the bike continued on, taking the lead away from the slightly wider turn of the other rider.

"He knows how to not get himself killed too though," Daichi commented, taking Itachi's elbow to lead him over to the elevators where everyone was rushing. He assumed the reason everyone was letting himself and Daichi get into one of the first elevators going up was because Daichi was one of the top dogs in the place, but Itachi didn't care enough to question it. After seeing the first turn of the race, Itachi had no doubt Deidara would win, though he was having them on whether or not he would ever get on the back of a bike with him. "Deidara rides bikes though because the only car he really wants is a Porsche. He's picky like that."

"Does he always drive so... crazy?" Itachi asked as the elevator ascended to the top floor. Why anyone would let someone who drove like that own a Porsche was beyond him. Maybe that's why he didn't have one yet.

Daichi nodded, popping a piece of jelly bean in his mouth after it was declined from Itachi. "There's only one person Deidara cares about in the world, and that person doesn't care if he lives or dies, so he feels that he has nothing to loose in the world," Daichi told him. "His love of what he calls art makes him live like that. You could say he's lost his mind at a sadly young age."

"Who does—" Itachi's question was cut off as the elevator doors opened on the roof of the parking lot, everyone in the elevator screamed their cheers though there wasn't anything to cheer for yet, drowning his question out. Itachi followed Daichi out onto the wide open space as people came from the other elevators. Some had already brought their cars up, trunks open to let the speakers pulse with the beats they let out.

Not even half of the population that had been down on the first floor at the start of the race was on the top when the spitting purr of the motorcycles came from below them. Just one more turn and up the small drive to the top and the winner would be named. Who would it be?

Itachi almost laughed at himself for having that thought. Who else would win such a demonic race, but the devil himself? This particular devil was blond and shooting up the smaller drive, showing off as he drove with only his rear wheel touching the ground. The front connected again when he was clear and he slid to a stop before the cheering crowd, turning his bike off and kicking the stand out to allow him to get off. He was cheering for himself as he pulled his helmet off. Out of the corner of his eye, Itachi saw money being exchanged between Daichi and another man, both congratulating each other on having fine racers.

Standing alone, he watched the smirking blond greet and accept the congratulations, while his eyes searched around for someone. It was him he was searching for, but Itachi waited until Deidara spotted him to start towards him as he broke free of the crowd.

"Well? What'd you think, un?" Deidara demanded, arms folded, but the victorious smirk was unable to fade away.

"Daichi had to restart my heart with CPR in the elevator," Itachi told him, offering him a small grin. "I've never seen anything like it." He watched Deidara laugh the laugh one gives when they've just been proven right and are arrogant about it. Arrogant he was indeed. Itachi had a feeling a big loss would be good for his ego, but he would let him savor the victory until then.

"Deidara!" some one called as a smaller group approached the two of them. "We're going out to celebrate, wanna come?"

"Yeah I'll buy you a drink!"

Itachi gave a soft inaudible sigh. If everyone was going out, that meant home for himself. He wouldn't go out drinking only to come home and possibly give away to his father that he wasn't out doing innocent things. Mikoto always vouched for him, assuring Fugaku that she knew he was at a friends house, even when she didn't know, but he wouldn't give him a reason to be provoked.

"Well... nice win," he spoke lamely, catching Deidara's attention again. "I'll see you tomorrow or something." He started to turn away towards the elevators, when Deidara caught his arm to stop him, turning him around again. Before he could start to protest that he couldn't go out drinking with them, Deidara had turned back to the group.

"Sorry guys," he told him, shrugging apologetically, "I'm hanging out with Itachi tonight, un." Despite the whines and complaining behind them, Deidara followed him to the elevator, pushing the button to the first floor.

"You are?" Itachi asked, looking down at him, just as surprised as the ones they'd left behind.

Deidara was leaning against the side of the elevator casually with an innocent air that was all but. "I thought maybe you could show me exactly how Daichi restarted your heart earlier, un," he told him.

Eyebrow raised, Itachi moved closer to him, suspicion on his face. "Are you serious?" he asked, eyes narrowing at him.

"Yeah, I kinda skipped that day in health class," Deidara told him.

Itachi stared at him a moment, unable to believe what Deidara was telling him, fully understanding the underlying meaning of them. What had changed his mind, Itachi could only guess, but he didn't let it be passed up. "Well, you tilt the head back to clear the air way then move closer to give the person breath back," Itachi murmured as his fingers slid behind Deidara's neck, thumb pushing up to tilt his chin as he leaned forward to finally kiss him without having to force or trick him into it. And he kissed him back without hesitating. Somehow they made it into Itachi's sleek black car when the elevator doors open, driving off towards Itachi's house, though neither said anything about where they were going.

Everyone was home and very much asleep when they crept up to the Uchiha house with the car lights off. Being as quietly as he could, Itachi parked his car and pulled his keys out. The problem with being quiet is that it's amusing to try and be quiet, making you laugh and snicker at the slightest noise that wouldn't even catch a mouse's attention. Together they shushed each other as they climbed up the tree near Itachi's window and slipped inside the dark room. As Deidara closed the window again to keep out the night air, Itachi went deeper into the room to lock his door. Deidara couldn't see into the room, but Itachi could see Deidara's silhouette against the window as he backed into the room. He snickered softly as he saw him trip on the bed and fall on it, Itachi shushing him again with a laugh as he climbed up onto the bed with him, leaning down to kiss him again.

* * *

It was late, or early which ever way it was looked at, and still very dark, blinding the two on the bed softly gasping for breath. Deidara could feel the warmth of Itachi's body, still radiating off him, despite Itachi's complaints of always being cold. Itachi was giving him space after the heavy closeness they had broken away from, though he was inching closer towards the human heater on the bed next to him. It was an odd feeling from Deidara's point of view, to be given space but used as a source of warmth. He stared at the dark shadow that was Itachi and gave a low snort, softly exasperated.

"What?" Itachi asked him, finally giving into the winter chill in his room and latched onto Deidara's warm body.

"Uchiha's... they i _are_ /i good at everything, aren't they?" Deidara said in a whispering voice, allowing Itachi to snuggle into him.

He heard Itachi give a soft chuckle on the pillow next to him. "You're not half bad yourself, 'un'," was his reply. Deidara wasn't sure how they had managed to keep quiet, but they weren't taking their chances now; whispering behind a locked door.

"I had no doubt about that, un," Deidara told him egotistically. Of course he was good. How could he even pretend to think otherwise?

He felt, rather then heard Itachi chuckling again. Why did he always think the things he said or did funny? Even when he wasn't trying to be funny, Itachi found something to laugh about, or chuckle really. Deidara hadn't heard him give a full out laugh before. Maybe he was just different and alienated from the Uchiha for him to comprehend his reasons for doing things well enough to not have a reaction to it. Damn he was starting to over think things like Itachi did. That wasn't a good sign.

In the silence, Itachi's fingers slid through Deidara's hair with absentminded ease. "You're a natural blond," he stated, voice tickling Deidara's ear as his head rested in the curve of his neck. His arms weren't wrapped around him so Deidara wasn't sure if this was classified as snuggling, cuddling, or some other form of closeness.

"No one ever believes me, un," Deidara replied. He had to go soon, the sun would be coming up and the menace that slept in the room two doors down across the hall would be awakening. Not that he particularly cared, but it would be such a hassle if Fugaku decided to check on his son to make sure he came home the night before. He also wasn't sure if Fugaku's willpower succeeded finding his eldest son naked in bed with one of his least favorite male in the world. That thought helped him make his decision. "I should get going, un."

The rumble in Itachi's throat vibrated softly against his shoulder. "Five more minutes," he mumbled. "You're so warm and I'm fucking cold."

"Don't feel cold to me, un," Deidara accused him. "Get some clothes on or something."

Sitting up, Deidara pulled away from Itachi and slide out from under the covers. After a quick search in the dark, he found his clothes scattered haphazardly throughout Itachi's room. As he dressed, he heard Itachi complaining softly, sounding sleepy. He saw his dark outline sit up and rub his eyes.

"What are you doing tomorrow—well, today?" Itachi asked him, drawing the blankets up around his shoulders.

Gathering up his shoes, he sat down on the bed to pull them on. "I don't know, un," he replied, "go to the park... take a nap. Nothing really planned, un." He didn't understand why he was asking him that. What did it matter what he was doing?

He started slightly in surprise when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist, dragging him across the bed against Itachi's body. "Then would you like to go driving up the mountain with me? We'll get some lunch and eat up there and take a nap," he felt Itachi murmuring in his ear like a well trained lover. It made Deidara shiver again softly. Had Itachi's voice always been that deep and inviting?

"Just us?" Deidara asked, turning his head to glance back, seeing Itachi give a short nod. "Like a date?" He snickered softly hearing that. Did Itachi know he never went passed a first date? Maybe a second date if you were severely lucky, but Deidara got sick of people a lot faster then they got sick of him.

"If you want to call it that," Itachi said, leaning forward to kiss him softly. Deidara gave a soft noise in response, kissing him back. "Come back around eleven, everyone should be gone by then."

Sliding out of his arms, Deidara finished putting his shoes on and tugged his jacket on. "Sure," he said softly, giving a half grin Itachi couldn't see. Well, this was new and something he hadn't experienced before. He hesitated on his way to the window, but the sounds of the shower running in the master bathroom brought him to attention. He whispered that he'd see him in a little while, opening the window just enough to slip out.

Itachi watched him close the window then disappear. Grinning, he rolled over onto the place Deidara had been laying a few moments before and pulled the covers over his head. Just a little nap wouldn't hurt. He was drifting off when he heard the house phone ring in the kitchen after his father had passed his room to go down to prepare his breakfast and coffee before work.

* * *

Eleven O'clock couldn't come sooner. Deciding it was useless to go home only to come back a few minutes later, Deidara had spent the morning in an early coffee shop nearby, eating breakfast and reading the newspaper out of boredom. When it finally came time to head back, Deidara was all grins walking up the Uchiha driveway, empty except for Itachi's car. He had expected that Itachi would want nothing to do with him after he got what he wanted from him. He didn't know why he had decided to give it to him the night before, because he hadn't wanted him to do it before. The high of his victory had made him generous. Perhaps he did it hoping that he wouldn't toss him away and here his hopes had been rewarded. Itachi wanted to spend more time with him, just them. No dates he had ever been on came out of someone who had just wanted to get him in bed. Usually it was the other way around.

With the driveway empty, Deidara figured no one would be in the house except for Itachi, so he knocked once to be polite then opened the unlocked door. "Itachi?" he called into the empty foyer and living room. When he didn't get a response, he ventured further into the house calling Itachi's name. The kitchen had three plates drying on the rack with their forks and knives, along with two glasses and a mug. Three people had eaten breakfast.

Turning towards the stairs, he snickered softly and mounted up them two at a time. Itachi was still sleeping. Poor baby, he wasn't use to staying up all night. He was probably out like a light the second he left. "Hey, Itachi! Wake up sleepy head!" he called as he reached the door. It was unlocked now, so he assumed Itachi hadn't gone right to sleep then, but it was still funny in his head that the Uchiha couldn't stay up. "Itachi, wake up—"

He froze at the door, eyes wide when he saw the empty bed, but occupied floor. The scene before him would have looked natural except that Itachi wasn't near the bed with the covers dragged over him if he rolled out of bed. The room was a disaster, books and paper, thrown off the desks and end table, the desk chair was laying on it's side. It took a few moments of staring before a few choice words flew out of Deidara's mouth and he was hurried over to the still body on the floor next to the desk.

"Itachi?! Are you okay?" the words sounded stupid before they even came out, but he couldn't stop them. Obviously he wasn't. Gently, he turned him over onto his back, hissing softly when he saw the shape his body was in. Blood on his forehead had dried onto the carpeted floor, but Deidara didn't notice until he had pulled him off the floor to let his head rest on his lap. The horrible ripping sound of his head peeling off the carpet made him wince at more then just the sight of him. Itachi hadn't even been able to get dressed before his attacker struck; bruises littered his body and an ugly looking black eye was forming.

"Nnm... warm..." came a quiet mumble Itachi. His injured head turned towards his body, slowly with a painful stiffness. "Deidara..."

It had caught him by surprise, thinking the other was unconscious. His mumble about warmth brought Deidara's attention to how cold he was to the touch. The window was open, letting to cold air seep innocently into the room. "It's me, Itachi," Deidara assured him, lifting him gingerly to rest higher on his lap and off the floor. Pushing his bangs off his face let him see the gash on his forehead, he must have hit the side of the desk or something. "What happened?"

It took several tries for Itachi to get the words out, but when he did he was only about to say, "saw... us..." before he fell silent in his lap. Deidara bit into his lip to force his anger down that wanted him to do something stupid. Itachi was still breathing, however shallow, he had to get him to... somewhere. He had no idea what to do. First aid was something he never learned. What do you do when you're hurt? Go to a doctor. There was no way he was taking him to a hospital, he decided with a shudder. What did he do when he was hurt? Go to the dreaded house outside the city. The house's occupant was in Africa right now though. Bastard. Door three was the only one he could think of to choose.

Carefully sliding out from under him, Deidara dug through his dresser and walk in closet to search for clothes for him. He made a huge mess before he came out with loose track pants, a t-shirt and found Itachi's jacket on the floor where they'd dropped it the night before. Deidara had never dressed someone before. It was a lot more awkward then he thought it would be when the person was dead weight in your arms. He tried to be as gentle as he could, but his actions still got soft whimpers out of the Uchiha. His arm felt weird as he slid it into the sleeves of his shirt and jacket. Deidara winced. It felt broken. His ribs looked a little funny too.

"I'm taking you to Daichi's, un," he told him, though he wasn't sure if he could hear him, or understand him. Carefully sitting Itachi up, he pulled him onto his back so he could carry him easier down the curved steps to the first floor. Itachi was several inches taller then him which made it a little difficult, but Deidara got them out side and Itachi into the passenger seat of his RX-7. He had to run back into the house to dig through his clothes for his keys as he pulled his cell phone out, dialing the familiar number quickly.

"Hello?"

"Daichi, it's me, un," Deidara said, tossing away a piece of clothing in frustration. Where were the damn keys?

"What's wrong?"

Aha! Finally! "Itachi's hurt, but I don't know how bad," Deidara said, darting down the stairs with the keys in his hand. "I'm bringing him over to the garage, un." Daichi was listening closely, then agreed with him – he'll give his medical friend a call to come down as soon as he could.

Deidara was pulling out of the driveway and down the road before he ended the call. He was angry with no one to direct his anger towards. He was worried, something he wasn't use to feeling. The answer of what happened was clear as though Fugaku had left a note for him to find. Why had he done it? What reason could he have this time to beat his son? What reason could he ever have? He had left him barely conscious on the floor, naked with a bleeding hole in his head. Continuous glances towards his unconscious passenger were made when he had enough time to take his eyes off the road. He hated driving cars. They felt so constricted.

When he arrived at the garage, Daichi and one of the stronger men working for him were waiting outside. Neither commented on Deidara's horrible parking job as they opened the passenger door, carefully lifting Itachi out of the car to carry him through the main door to a prepared table with several blankets and cushions. Rin was there with a first aid kit, ignoring Deidara's mumble that he didn't think that would be of any help.

Deidara was told to stand aside as Rin and Daichi cleaned Itachi's face of dried blood. Deidara protested, wanting to help, but Daichi refused him harshly for the first time in years. The man who had help carry Itachi in picked him up, ignoring the blond who shamelessly kicked and screamed on the way to the second floor lounge. He could watch, but wasn't close enough to see any of the damage. His hands clenched the railing bars so tightly his knuckles were white, anger boiling in him as he watched those working below. They were nearly finished when Daichi's friend came in. Toshi was not one of Deidara's favorite people in the world. And certainly not his favorite doctor, even though he was good. He had a perfectly good doctor to take care of himself, the only problem was his doctor enjoyed traveling to far away lands so he was stuck with Toshi.

Daichi and Toshi had been friends in high school. Both liked cars, but only Daichi continued on after graduation to study mechanics and learn all he could about cars. Toshi had gone on to study medicine, though he came back whenever he could to go racing with Daichi in the streets. It had been the two of them that started the street racing in the city it had grown into today. Tattooless and without any piercings, Toshi looked like he belonged in an office not behind the wheel of a car. Certainly not racing down the streets of the city against Daichi, but then again, Deidara had never seen him behind the wheel of a car.

Watching from the chair above he was banished to, Deidara's expression grew darker, only half listening to what the three surrounding Itachi was saying. No one else seemed to be working either, eyes on the group around the table, or watching Deidara to make sure his short fuse didn't go off. Deidara didn't even see them. In his mind, he was plotting Fugaku's destruction. Itachi wasn't that important to him, but he enjoyed him. Enjoyed his company and had been looking forward to spending the day with him. This was not something he had in mind. Rin saw his anger. She'd tell Daichi to talk to him when they were finished.

"Who is this?" Toshi was saying as he examined Itachi's arm. Broken. He motioned Daichi over to help him set the bone back into place manually. Several people winced around the room.

"Deidara's new infatuation," one of the workers said as he helped hold Itachi down in case he moved or woke up, managing to crack a smirk. It disappeared when a full can of soda came down on his head, but Deidara's angry shouts were silenced instantly.

"Shut up, Deidara!" Daichi snapped angrily, giving him a dark look. The mask. The mask was gone. The calm, understanding Daichi gave way temporarily to the short tempered one for a brief moment. "Stop being such an immature brat and calm down!"

Deidara slumped back in the chair. He wasn't a fool. Just because everyone else around underestimated Daichi, didn't mean he would. He was there before the calm, understanding Daichi ever came around. Rin helped with the old Daichi, as she did now by placing her hand on Daichi's shoulder, turning his angry face from the blond. She spoke quietly to him and his anger slowly faded, speaking back to her softly, but he didn't turn and apologize to Deidara for snapping at him. He meant what he'd said, uncaring to the blond feeling more and more helpless as he watched them help Itachi.

* * *

When Itachi opened his eyes again, all he could see was a ceiling that was much closer then it should have been. It took several blinks of his eyes to focus enough to see that it was made of wood and wasn't a ceiling, but the bottom of a bunk bed. An ache behind his eyes stopped from him moving them around until he was able to stand it enough to try and figure out where he was. What was wrong with his eyes? He could barely focus on anything. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was Deidara's grin as he agreed to go up the mountain with him. Wait...

"Shit!" he snapped, sitting up hurriedly. He was about to go into a small version of panic mode to set himself in gear to get out of bed as quickly as possible; he had to have overslept! Suddenly, he was forced to fall back to the pillow with a sharp cry of pain. His head swam, his arm throbbed. Every part of his body just i _hurt /i _.

After several minutes of trying to force his breath into staying even to keep the pain away, Itachi was able to relax again, and to slowly turn his head to look at his surroundings. This was the room in Daichi's shop where everyone slept. He was in one of the bunk beds, but how did he get here? Despite the fact that it hurt to think very hard, he tried to remember. It came back to him like a sudden flood that he tried to block out once it started.

"Well, well, Sleeping Beauty's woken up without a kiss. Guess the legend's wrong."

"Daichi..." his voice was cracked and parched from lack of use. He started to push himself up, then felt the throb of pain starting, so he lowered himself down again.

"Easy now," Daichi murmured, holding his hands out as though to force him to do it mentally. "You've been out for a whole day, how do you feel?"

"Fantastic," Itachi grumbled sarcastically. Daichi's voice was bouncing in his head, but he was determined to sort out the confusion in his head. "How did I get here?"

Silently dragging over a chair to sit on, Daichi replied, "Deidara brought you in yesterday morning." A star burst when into his mouth after his reply, crumbling up the wrapper to toss into the trashcan.

"Where is he?" Itachi asked. Despite the fact that it was Fugaku's fault, he felt bad that their afternoon got changed for the worse. His voice was becoming a little clearer as he spoke, but his head still hurt.

"Sleeping on the bed next to you. He was supposed to be on guard duty to be here when you woke up. Sleeping on the job's liable to get him fired," Daichi said with a grin.

Itachi tried to do the same in return, but only managed a tiny half grin. Very slowly, he turned his head to the side to look towards the wall. Sure enough, Deidara was there, sitting in the top corner of the bunk with his knees drawn up to his chest. His arms were wrapped around his knees to create a rest for his head. His face was covered from Daichi's view, but from Itachi's view from the bed, he could see Deidara's face peaceful in sleep, more relaxed then Itachi had ever seen him. "He was coming to meet me..."

"Good thing too. You lost a lot of blood. Cut your head open and all that," Daichi told him, a thoughtful expression on his face when Itachi turned to look back at him again. "This has happened before." A statement, not a question. Itachi nodded once. "Why haven't you told anyone?"

"Mom's happy," was all Itachi could say, turning his head away to look at Deidara instead.

"So you should be punished so she can be happy?" Daichi asked. Though his words were accusing, his tone was soft and patient. Seeking to understand, not to accuse. Itachi thought of some way to explain it to Daichi, but every time he thought on it, it just sounded even more confusing in words. It was just how it was. When he didn't answer, Daichi didn't push. He was grateful for that.

"How bad am I?" Itachi asked instead.

He felt Daichi's hand lightly touch his arm, then his forehead. For the first time he could feel bandages against his skin. "Your arm is broken, and you must have hit the corner of your desk; you hit your head, there's a big cut. Minor concussion, but since your up and talking, I'm assuming it's nothing serious," Daichi told him, then made a general gesture to the rest of his body. "You've got a lot of other bruises too, but they're nothing to worry about. It looked as though a few ribs were broken, but they weren't... take it easy on them though. Deidara brought you here in your car, but don't tell him what happened... at least not all of it. I stuck him in here with you because I knew if he was, he wouldn't go out to carry out his plot of Fugaku's demise. I'd hate to see what would happen to the city if he got loose."

"He shouldn't... he'll get in a lot of trouble."

"I know, but he's easy angered," Daichi told him with a grin, glancing up at the sleeping blond, oblivious to them talking about him. He smiled at Deidara, thinking something Itachi didn't know. This time he did want to know what it was, but he didn't ask.

"Why would he do that for me?"

"I told you, you're his friend," Daichi said, popping another star burst into his mouth. "What were you two planning to do yesterday?"

"Um... go up the mountain... eat, take a nap," Itachi replied, thinking about it.

Daichi gave a soft chuckle, catching his attention. "You must have confused him real bad," he said, grinning.

"Why?" he asked, glancing back over at Deidara.

"No one's ever done that before... He'd never admit it, but he hates it when people use him then toss him away," Daichi said, looking at the blond as well, sleeping on with no knowledge that he was being talked about. "Rest up, get better soon. I'm sure Dei'll take you up on it again."

* * *

The next couple of weeks were very dull for Itachi. The doctor who would come in and look at him said he should take it easy and relax. There wasn't much to do in the garage so he ended up spending the majority of his day in bed with his school books. He couldn't go to school if he was going to relax and he had a feeling that his parents would be waiting to drag him back home if he did go. Deidara told him that his phone had been ringing none stop the first two days when he was sleeping, but he turned it off. "They'll want you home," Deidara explained to him. "And they can trace the call if you pick up, un." He didn't like not being able to call Mikoto to tell her that he was at least alive. She was probably ripping her hair out in worry, but Deidara talked him into understanding that it was better for him to stay here until his arm healed.

Boring as it was, Deidara – who Itachi learned also wasn't going to school, even when Itachi pushed him to go – came in to talk to him, or bring him things. He didn't ask questions about what happened, and Itachi didn't bring it up. He caught Deidara eying his bandaged arm and forehead a few times with a dark look on his face, still angry about what had happened. A few times Itachi tried to get him to at least go to school to get his makeup work, but Deidara refused. He could get it when he was better.

Itachi didn't even know what today was. Without his phone he was loosing track of time and days. He at least knew that he had been here for three weeks at least. Once a week Daichi got a new shipment in of car parts and it had come three times since he'd been aware enough to notice things around him. Right now, listening into the other room for signs of life, he found it empty. No, that was impossible. Daichi never let his shop be completely empty at any given time. He assumed it was for security reasons, or maybe to baby sit himself. Either way, Itachi was certain he wasn't alone, so he decided to get up. He was thirsty anyway.

From the light of the garage doors, Itachi assumed it was the afternoon, but didn't know what day. It was freezing in the main floor because of it. Itachi had to turn back to retrieve the sweatshirt someone was letting him borrow before returning to his wandering. Stopping first in the empty kitchen, he got himself a glass of water to drink down and leave in the sink before venturing out into the main part of the shop. His whole body was sore and while his head didn't hurt as much, it still swam a little as he walked.

As he suspected, the garage wasn't completely empty, but the shop seemed dead with only two people in it. Deidara was leaning over the hood of a car reaching inside as he worked. His cargo pants looked held up by his hoodie tied around his waist, the tank top all he wore on his torso. Itachi almost winced at that. Didn't he feel the ungodly cold air that was blowing in through the open garage doors? There was even snow outside now! He was wearing a sleeveless shirt!

Grumbling about idiots to himself, Itachi went over to him, his presence unnoticed because of the headphones covering the blonds ears. The way he was leaning over the car made Itachi contemplate giving his butt a good swat, but he changed his mind and gave his ponytail a tug. "Hey," he greeted when Deidara whipped around to see who'd sneaked up on him.

"You should be in bed, un," Deidara accused, pointing the three-sixteen he'd been using at him.

Itachi frowned and folded his arms as best he could with his make shift cast on. "I've been in bed for weeks, un," he complained to justify himself. "Where is everyone?

"Getting lunch," Deidara replied, going over to drag the lounging sofa from against the wall for Itachi to at least sit on. Itachi sat and Deidara decided to sit down next to him, wiping his hands on a cloth. "We didn't know what you wanted, I think Daichi's guessing, un."

"That's fine," Itachi said with a shrug. He hadn't gotten it wrong yet, so he doubted there was anything to worry about. Deidara was watching him again, studying instead of asking if he was feeling okay. He was about to tell him that he was fine and to stop staring at him, when a knock sounded at the customer entrance to the shop, a woman's voice followed it.

"Can I help yo—oh, its you, un," Deidara grumbled, as the woman came into the large room.

Itachi didn't see what was the problem with the woman. She was tall and thin with a sweet, but no nonsense face that was framed by the soft bangs left over from her smart bun. She was dressed nicely too, with one of those briefcase bags his teachers sometimes carried.

"Yes, Deidara, it's me," she said, walking over to the two of them. "And it's _may_ I help you, not _can_ I help you."

English teacher. Had to be an English teacher.

"What are you doing here, un?" Deidara asked, ignoring her correction. "And how did you find it?"

"I went to your home and the lovely woman there told me to come here," the woman replied, folding her arms. Itachi didn't think anyone knew that Deidara lived here. If they did, he suspected that the police force would have been here long ago to clean the place out. He wasn't even sure if the main mechanic for the place was listed as Daichi, but if Rin had told her to come, she must think it was safe. "I brought you your makeup work," the woman went on to explain, dropping a pile of papers onto Deidara's lap. "Winter break starts this Friday, so you'll have plenty of time to do it all. The quarter ends just a week after break. I do not want to fail you."

"What if I don't care about school, un?" Deidara grumbled, folding his arms defiantly. Itachi could see him about to shove the papers onto the floor.

"You should," the woman huffed, shaking her head. "You were doing so well for a while." She waited for Deidara to say something, but he was busy glaring at the car he'd been working on. Giving a heavy sigh, she reached up to rub her temples like she was getting a headache. "There's a project in class, Deidara. Everyone's to write a newspaper article on anything they want. The local paper is going to review them and pick one to publish publicly. I was really looking forward to reading yours."

Deidara glanced up at her suspiciously. "Why?" he asked.

"Because you have a different life and view of the world then nearly all the students in my class. It would be nice to see." she told him.

Deidara continued to look at her a moment before turning away again. "You shouldn't be here, my boss doesn't like people in the shop, un," he said, folding his arms. The woman didn't seem to notice Itachi's presence as she apologized, looking meaningfully at him and his homework then turned and left, shutting the door quietly behind her. Deidara scoffed and dropped the stack on the floor, no intention of looking or doing them. "Different view of the world my ass, un," he grumbled to himself.

"She's right though," Itachi said, with a shrug. When Deidara turned his glare on him, he rolled his eyes a little and explained himself. "You think anyone else in that school lives like you? I feel like I'm in a whole nother country when I'm around you. You could write about... stupid rich kids, or police brutality or something."

Deidara snorted at him then got back up. "Whatever," he said, picking his tools back up and went over to lean over the car's engine again.

Unfortunately for Deidara, Daichi found the papers he had decided not to do and blackmailed him into doing them. Itachi didn't catch the whole thing, but it sounded like he was going to take his bike apart or something. The bike belonged to Deidara, but Daichi had given him the parts to upgrade it into what it was now. Itachi wasn't complaining either way, because of the classes he missed, Deidara needed help again and he was quite willing to do something other then lounge around doing nothing. The blond made it quite obvious how much he hated school work, but as Itachi kept pointing out, he had absolutely no problem with math. Anything that seemed to involve working out a problem, Deidara seemed exceptional at. He just complained about doing it. Itachi thought it was a shame to waste genius on the lazy, especially when they didn't seem to realize they were smart.

More weeks passed. Time seemed to stand still in the garage for Itachi. Winter break started for the students, but very few stayed indoors. It was still snowing outside and they went out to play in it or stalked off with shovels to scrape some extra money for themselves. Itachi stayed inside. No one told him he had too, but he felt like he should. Plus he hated the cold. Why go out in it when it could be avoided. Christmas came, but the celebration in the garage was nothing like he'd ever seen before. Presents were a minor detail, unlike at home where everything was about the presents. Everyone just talked and ate and drank and talked and ate and drank all day. Rin made a huge feast for everyone, people Itachi had never seen before came to celebrate. Another world. Then there was new years. That was just as different, but just as fun. The only think he didn't like was being forced to go outside, but even he had to admit he had a good time setting off fireworks with Deidara and the others in the park, watching all of them get drunk and dance around the city streets with a freedom Itachi never felt before. January passed, then February. Itachi found himself sinking comfortably into this new life, though he would never sink as deep as the alcohol, drug loving people around him. That part he forced himself to ignore. It was their choice. His choice was no.

"Did you ever write that article?" Itachi asked, closing his eyes as he sat down on the floor of one of the showers, letting the hot water run over his body. March. It was March now. The weather was making up for the too long summer by giving them a too long winter. Though the city plowmen had the streets under control, there were still several feet of snow that melted some during the day, but occasionally rose again during an unexpected snow fall. The doctor had come and taken it off, saying that it was set, but he had to be careful for another month or so until it healed all the way. Itachi didn't mind, it was nice to get his arm back and be able to take a shower without holding his arm out of the stream.

"Yes," Deidara said from the shower next to his. It sounded like he was washing his hair, though how he washed all that hair was beyond him. Itachi's hair was long, but no where near as long or as thick as Deidara's. "I turned it in before break, un."

"Really? When did you do that?" Itachi asked, poking his head out of his stall. That was a while ago, but he couldn't remember Deidara ever mentioning it.

"Day before break," Deidara replied, doing the same, but gave him a smug expression. Fear my elite skills was what Itachi read from it. He just rolls his eyes and pulled back into his stall.

"What'd you write about?" Itachi asked, picking up his soap and started scrubbing himself. Even though Daichi's garage was surprisingly clean for a body shop, Itachi was happily working on cars most of his days now, accumulating layers of dirty and grim. Good thing they had really good soap.

"Something no one's ever read before, un," was the reply. He could hear the grin in his face. So proud for someone who didn't want to do the work in the first place. "My teacher said they're all going to be printed in the schools literary arts magazine at the end of the year, even if only one's going to get picked for the newspapers to print, un. You'll see it then."

"Maybe I'll see it in the paper when it gets published," Itachi said with a grin, rinsing himself off then lying down on the bottom of the shower. The hot water felt so good on his back. He needed a massage or something.

"Yeah rig—"

"Hey Dei!" someone cried, bursting the bathroom door open. The curtain to the shower Deidara was using was thrown open and by the angry cry of protest, not by Deidara.

"What the hell are you doing! Get off of me!" Deidara shouted, the sound echoing loudly in the bathroom.

"No Dei, you gotta come see this!"

"Not covered in soap and butt naked I don't, un!" Itachi couldn't help himself, he stuck his head out of his stall to watch. Not one, but two of the men who worked in the garage – Itachi still only knew one or two of the ten-plus people's names – was trying to drag a very angry, very soapy and very naked Deidara to the door. His hair was plastered to his face and back from the water, darker because of the water, but still very light. "Let go of me!"

"I don't know, you could pull that off," Itachi commented, then ducked behind his stall as the bar of soap Deidara had still been holding was chucked at him with a rather loud 'fuck you'. Getting up, Itachi rinsed his body off again then turned off the stream of water. He grabbed his towel and dried himself off before wrapping it around his waist and stepped out. Deidara was still struggling to get out of their hold, but holding his own against not leaving the bathroom naked. Goodness, was he i _blushing /i _? "Knock it off," Itachi said, tugging Deidara out of their grasp so he could storm into the shower stall again.

Despite his anger, he didn't take long to come out with his own towel wrapped around himself, hair still tripping wet. "Alright, what?" he demanded, folding his arms.

"There's this huge investigation going on," they said, pointing out of the bathroom. "It's on TV now, Officer Uchiha's getting arrested!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Twilight**

**Chapter 13**

* * *

Before beginning to read, please do not PM me or submit a review asking if I'm uploading more chapters for my **other **fanfics. I have no interest in writing more of them and honestly, if you see something hasn't been updated in over a year, chances are it's not going to get more chapters.

Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

**Not from Shul: **Sorry for the long awaited update, I've been busy at work and stuff and forget I have Twilight posted elsewhere.  
If you want to read up to what I have written you can look at my LJ, **ArtisticallySet**, I update that more then anything.

* * *

Itachi stared at the TV, taking in ever word spoken through the speakers. Arrested. He thought he wad dreaming, but no matter how many times he pinched himself, the headlines still read 'School Article Raises Questions', 'Uchiha Power Abuser?', 'Head of Police: Arrested!', 'Uchiha's Eldest Missing! Uchiha Prime Suspect!'. The article was being printed all over the local and a few national papers, spread online and spoken about on the TV. The reporter on the screen was reading a few lines from the article. It talked about police brutality to children on the streets, abusing their power on and off the streets while keeping a kind and caring face towards justice.

"Though clearly an amateur writer, this anonymous teenager has brought a new look at the once looked up to head of police," the reporter said. He went onto explain how investigators had looked into the article, speaking to common adults and teenagers on the streets, to family members. "Though doubts were beginning to rise, a startling conformation came from Uchiha's own son. Uchiha Sasuke has told investigators that it wasn't uncommon for his father to raise his hand unnecessarily." No one knew where Itachi was and their neighbor across the street was beside herself with horror. She had seen someone, described as a young teenager with blond hair, sneaking out of Itachi's window and called Fugaku, fearing burglary. Blood and signs of a struggle in Itachi's room seems proof of the abuse and with Itachi's sudden disappearance, Fugaku is being heavily questioned on the whereabouts of his eldest. Though nothing has been reported yet. Authorities are fearing the worst.

"If Itachi did manage to escape the house," the reporter continued, "and is listening to this, your family desperately wants to hear from you."

Itachi reached out and turned the TV off. There had been a flash or two of Mikoto and Sasuke. Mikoto looked so sad... worried more then Itachi had ever seen her. Even more so when Sasuke got lost in the mall when he was five. He'd been watching the newscast for a day and a half, a horrible sense of guilt growing stronger each time a new one came on. The other's in the shop had long since grown bored with it, happy Fugaku was locked up. He was sure they all went to celebrate last night. Deidara definitely came back drunk at three in the morning, though that didn't stop him from getting up early and bundling up to go outside. A thick layer of snow was on the ground outside despite it being March—a long summer and long winter... it was definitely a strange year.. There was "money to be made, fun to be had," Deidara told him when asked where he was going.

Speak of the devil.

"Hey, did you see? The judges just announced him guilty, un," Deidara said the moment he spotted the Uchiha. He shook himself off of snow. He'd been out all afternoon and from the glimpse he got of the outside, it was still snowing. "They're locking him up for a long time!"

"Yeah..." Itachi said, turning his eyes back to the TV, even though it was off. Mikoto's expression was still stuck there like he'd paused it in his mind. Was she upset because he was missing? Or was she upset because her life was now destroyed. Every moment of happy family she had was a lie.

"What's wrong?" Deidara asked, his excitement disappearing as he went over to sit down next to him.

"Did you see my mom's face?" Itachi replied in a quiet voice, still staring at the TV. "She's so upset..."

"Everyone thinks you're dead, un," Deidara said, apparently finding the thought amusing. "If you're upset about it, just call her."

Itachi shook his head. He couldn't. Their family was a mess right now because of him. He couldn't call her.

"Fine, I'll call," Deidara said, opening his phone and dialed Itachi's house number, leaping over the sofa to get away from Itachi's protests and grabbing hands. "Hi, Mikoto? It's Deidara." Itachi was staring at him wide eyed in panic when he looked back at him. "I saw it, yeah... I know, it's okay... Mhmm... It's okay, Itachi's with me, un," Deidara's voice was the same happy tone it always was when he spoke to Mikoto. There must have been silence on the other end because Deidara followed up with a "hello?"

"No, he's in the shower right now..." Deidara said after a moment. "Yeah... yeah, I'll tell him, un... Okay. Bye," Deidara finished, hanging up then slipped his phone into his back pocket. "Don't look at me like that, un," Deidara retorted, moving around to sit back down on the sofa next to him. "She said to say she loves you and that you can come home whenever you want, un."

Confused by the look Deidara was giving him, Itachi watched Deidara get back up and go to the cupboard to get a cup of instant ramen. He looked irritated, and by the sound of it, clumsier then normal. Following him into the kitchen, he sat down at the table, watching him angrily fuss over the microwave. When it beeped, Deidara jerked it out and set it down on the table to sit, cursing when a bit of hot water splashed onto his hand. Was Deidara always this clumsy? Yes, but not to this extent. After a few minutes of waiting, Deidara broke his chopsticks apart and started eating in silence, apparently ignoring the fact that he was burning his tongue with every bite. In his daze, Itachi didn't realize what was wrong until Deidara got up to kick the trash can open to throw his trash away.

"You don't want me to go," Itachi said, not even bothering to make it a question. "You're upset."

"No, I'm not, un," he snapped back, glaring darkly at him.

"Are too."

"Am not, un!" Itachi watched Deidara storm out of the kitchen, almost wanting to laugh aloud. He would have never guessed it. Deidara didn't want him to go. Did he like spending time with him? Maybe it was like before when he was surprised that he invited him to go driving before all this happened. He though he was just going to drop him, ignore him when he was well enough to leave. Deidara's view of Itachi was a lot lower then he thought it was... or maybe he was like that to everyone. How could he just ignore him after nearly three months? After two and a half months of studying, talking, playing games with the others... so many nights spent shushing each other in bed like they had the night Deidara had won his race. Itachi had never spend this much time with one person before. How could he just ignore him?

"Dei!" he called, getting up and following after him.

"Only Daichi calls me that, un!" he heard Deidara snap.

"And half the other people here," Itachi reminded him, following after his voice to the bunk room.

"...Not you, un!"

Rolling his eyes, Itachi went into the room and hurried over to grab Deidara around the waist to stop him from climbing up to his bunk on the third level, wrestling him onto the bed Itachi had been using on the first one. Itachi sat down on him, panting softly. That had been harder then he thought it would be, the blond put up a good fight. "Calm down!"

"Get off me!"

"I'm not going to just leave!" Itachi said, frustrated with the blond. In a quieter voice since Deidara stopped struggling under him, he continued. "I still have to take you up the mountain..." He watched the startled expression on Deidara's face appear. "Why do you think I'm just going to leave and ignore you now?"

"I don't, un," Deidara lied badly, looking away from him.

"Are we interrupting something?" They turned to see Daichi grinning in the doorway and several smirking, perverted looking faces behind him.

"No," they replied in unison, glaring at the onlookers.

"Daichi," Itachi said as he slid off Deidara. "Thank you for helping me, but I need to go home."

"Of course," Daichi said with a nod. "You're still welcome to come to the races with us, and race as well. I'll keep you informed." He glanced from Itachi to Deidara then smiled again. "Your arm isn't completely healed yet, why don't you let Deidara drive you home?"

Itachi glanced over at Deidara to make sure that was alright with him. He didn't think there was anything wrong with his arm any more. From what he knew it took about three months to heal a broken bone, and it was nearly that long, but maybe Daichi was letting them finish whatever conversation he knew they were having before everyone interrupted. "Sure," was Deidara's shrugging reply.

"Thanks," Itachi said to both him and to Daichi as well.

Getting up, Deidara climbed into his bunk to get his extra coat. "Do you want to wear my hoodie?" he asked, holding it out. "Its kinda cold outside, un."

"Awww!"

"It's kinda cold outside!"

"Listen to mommy Itachi! Put your coat on!"

"Deidei-chan you're so caring!"

"Shut up," Deidara snapped angrily, throwing his hoodie at Itachi and shoved his way out of the room as the other's laughed after him. Daichi just rolled his eyes and walked into his office. Itachi frowned at them, still making fun of Deidara

"Shut up," Itachi said, glaring darkly at them. "If you're going to be ignorant assholes, don't complain so much when the only action you get is from your hands." Honestly. Ignoring whatever comments or insults they threw at his back, Itachi ignored them, pulling on Itachi's too big hoodie, that fit well on himself and pushed passed them to follow after Deidara. "You shouldn't let them tease you so much," he said as he got into the passenger side of his own RX-7 for the first time ever. Well, conscious at least. He had also never driven with Deidara consciously before. Could Deidara even drive...? Wait, he'd brought him here, so he must be able to at least make the car go...

"I know," Deidara was telling him as he took the keys from Itachi and started the car.

A sudden foreboding doom crept over Itachi. "Can you drive?" he asked him as he started to pull out of the garage.

"Oh, yeah," Deidara replied casually.

"You have your license?"

Deidara scoffed. "No," he replied, rolling his eyes as he backed out onto the road.

"Okay," Itachi said, though he was holding tightly onto the seat belt. Though his fingers itched for the panic bar, he resisted, thinking that might be too obvious. Deidara wasn't a bad driver, but he was certainly a daring one. As they drove around corner after corner, Itachi wondered what Deidara would do if a cop tried to pull him over. Would he even stop?

His fear of Deidara's driving was becoming over shadowed by his nervousness as they came closer to the road his house was on. Months. He hadn't been home in three months. He hadn't been to school in three months. He'd have to cash in a bunch of favors and make a few phone calls to keep himself from getting kicked out... and his mother...

"Itachi," Deidara's voice snapped him back to reality and out of his thoughts. "Do I need to undo your seatbelt too, un?"

Onyx eyes glanced around, noting that they were parked in his driveway, the car turned off. "No," Itachi said, doing it himself and opening his door to get out.

"Do you want me to wait here...?" Deidara asked, looking uncertain. Itachi looked completely out of it.

"No." Itachi said instantly, staring at the door. "Do you want to come in?"

"..Sure," Deidara murmured, getting out of the car. Nervous. Itachi looked nervous. Why that was Deidara didn't understand. Sure, he'd been gone a long time, but now Mikoto understood why. She'd even said she loved him over the phone. That should count as something not to be nervous about. As they walked to the door together, Deidara reached out to touch Itachi's hand reassuringly, silently asking what was the matter. Just as silently, Itachi took his hand and held it tight. The action had surprised the blond even more, but he still gave him an encouraging squeeze as Itachi knocked on the door to his own home.

After a few brief moments, the door opened for them. Sasuke's eyes were wide when he saw his brother, not even noticing Deidara as he flung his arms around Itachi's neck, dragging him inside the house. Itachi pulled Deidara in, still holding tight to his hand. "Itachi! We were so worried, where the hell have you been?" Sasuke cried, clinging tightly to him. Itachi finally let go of Deidara's hand to lightly hug his brother back. He didn't know what to say or do. He still felt horrible for what he put them through.

The brotherly union was short as Mikoto came flying down the stairs after hearing Sasuke's cry. Pulling Sasuke off him, she hugged her eldest tightly. Further into the background Deidara shrank, feeling more and more uncomfortable in the sudden family environment as the Uchihas hugged. Mikoto was sobbing against Itachi's chest, too short compared to him to do it on his shoulder. Despite her tears, she was cooing over him like he was still a child, pulling his head down on her shoulder as she hugged him tight.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked in a soft whisper. "Why didn't you tell me, baby?"

Itachi couldn't even cringe at the use of 'baby' in front of Deidara, hugging his mother cautiously at first then tightly. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't.. want you to worry... or be upset."

"Upset? Itachi! You're my son! It's my job to worry about you," she scolded him softly, petting the back of his neck as she held him tightly. "No one hurts my sons. No one."

A soft smile slid onto Itachi's face as he held her tighter, Deidara forgotten behind him. She wasn't angry about him being away for so long without calling, she'd just been worried if he was alive or not, not angry. She probably was furious, he thought after a moment, but at his father.

Movement behind him caught his attention as Deidara tried to slip outside. "Mom, I was with Deidara," he told her, pulling away from her to motion to the boy behind him. "He found me that morning and helped me."

"Oh, Deidara, thank you," Mikoto cried, rushing over to attack the unsuspecting boy trying to sneak out. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she dragged him into the house again while Itachi mouthed 'sorry' behind her back. "Thanks so much..."

"You're welcome," Deidara stammered, giving her awkward hug.

"Thank you... thank you so much," she whispered softly, giving him another hug before going back to Itachi to cling to him. Sasuke gave Deidara a grin that was a silent thanks without the touchiness. With a heaving sigh, Mikoto finally pulled away from Itachi to wipe her eyes and take a few deep breaths. "Sorry... sorry... Um, why don't you two go upstairs and – and you can change Itachi," she suggested, after giving Itachi a once over and noting that those weren't Itachi's clothes at all. "I'll order dinner. Do you like pizza, Deidara?"

"Uh... sure," Deidara said slowly, still sounding unsure. Itachi nodded to Mikoto and ushered the blond up the stairs.

"You don't mind staying right?" Itachi opened the door to his room. Spotless. His mother cleaned everything when he was gone... even the blood off the floor. "You don't have someon—thing to do tonight?" he asked, catching himself before he said something stupid.

He watched Deidara walk into Itachi's room, sitting on Itachi's bed. He'd caught the near slip, but he shrugged it off, not looking at him. "They can afford to miss me, un," Deidara replied. "I have a," he faked a cough, "cold. Wouldn't want to spread it on."

"You obviously don't mind spreading it here," Itachi commented, going into his walk in closet to change.

"Nope," Deidara said, grinning as he tucked his hands behind his head and leaned back against Itachi's pillow.

In the closet, Itachi grinned as he pulled on a shirt of his own, folding the clothes Daichi had lent him to wash and return later. "Be careful," he called out, feeling so much happier then before, "I might think you're into me or something." He heard Deidara give a sarcastic laugh as he turned the light out and walked out. Going over to the bed, Itachi folded his arms and looked down at him. "Not even a little bit?"

"Nope," he assured him, watching him crawl up the bed towards him.

"Not even that thing where nurses fall in love with their patient?"

"Hell no!" Deidara laughed aloud when he heard that, still chuckling softly as Itachi leaned down to kiss him. It'd been month or so since he'd stopped pulling away from him when he did. What made him stop? If Deidara knew, he wasn't sharing the reason with Itachi.

"Thanks for coming with me," Itachi said softly, explaining the thank you kiss.

"You're welcome," Deidara whispered back, kissing him again. Okay, maybe he had developed a thing for him, but he wasn't sure if it was him he was into... or his dick. Touch call. Not that he was going to say anything aloud to Itachi, he couldn't tell yet if honestly that blunt would be appreciated or not.

"Get a room!" Sasuke said from the open doorway, giving them an odd look as they broke away from their kiss.

"We are in a room," Itachi reminded him with a glare. "My room. Go away."

"Are you two dating or something now?" Sasuke asked with a mischievous grin like he thought that information might be useful later.

"Not yet. Go away," Itachi growled at his younger brother, getting up to chase him away, but didn't go passed the frame as he closed the door to his room.

"Not yet?" Deidara repeated, giving him a look Itachi couldn't read as he folded his arms. Pissed? Curious? Agitated God, Deidara was hard to read when he wasn't expressing it verbally. Well, that was hard to read too. Sometimes Deidara's attempts at covering up embarrassment sounded pissed, but that was because he was so frustrated. It was just hard to decipher when he was genuinely angry. He was watching Itachi closely now, eyes narrowed, but in thought. Sinking deep into his thoughts to weight Itachi's answer.

"Well, when I was going to take you to the mountain I was going to ask you then if you wanted too, but... you know how that worked out," Itachi said, sitting back down on the bed to prop himself up on his hand. "So I've just been waiting for the right moment again."

"What makes you think I'll say yes, un?" Deidara questioned, still giving him that look. Caution, Itachi decided. He was being cautious in an unfamiliar setting.

"Nothing, actually," Itachi admitted, with a shrug. "Just couldn't hurt to ask."

Deidara said nothing in response to what he said, but he didn't pull away when Itachi leaned up to kiss him again. Itachi never really liked kisses. Anyone else he'd ever kissed... it just felt weird. Tasted wrong. Deidara had just as bad a sweet tooth as Daichi. He always tasted like some sugary artificial fruit when he kissed him. Deidara was also very particular about brushing his teeth; Itachi could only guess that it was helpful during those clubbing nights when he'd be dropped off or walk in hours after everyone else came in, but at least he never had bad breath. On those nights, Itachi would wait patiently awake until Deidara finally came out of his scalding hot shower before offering a place in his bed with him. Most of the time during those three months in the shop, Deidara refused, but occasionally he'd slid into bed with Itachi instead of climbing up the ladder to his bed. Damp hair braided to keep everything from getting wet, skin still warm to the touch from the too hot shower, he'd let Itachi use him as a heater in the winter.

"What's on the agenda for tonight, un?"

"Pizza, by the sound of it," Itachi replied, holding back the sigh as the blond changed subjects like he hadn't heard the previous one at all. "I wasn't expecting you to stay so I didn't plan on anything... plus I was worried and all."

"Maybe I shouldn't stay... Your mom might want to spend time with you, un," Deidara said with a slight shrug.

"What would you do if you left?"

"You don't want to know."

"Yes, I do."

"No you don't, un."

"Try me."

Deidara was frowning at him now. "...I'm going to meet some rich asshole at the club, take a shoot before leaving with him to go to his house because his wife's away on some country club meeting to be subjected to his bondage and dominance fetishes, un. The night would include pain and alcohol and probably about a couple hundred bucks." Blunt and honest. Ouch. Deidara was right. He didn't want to know.

Why did Deidara let people do things like that to him? Itachi wanted to know the answer, but when ever it'd come up in a conversation, Deidara would either change the subject, or get angry and leave. He never seemed to have money on him, despite how much he went out. Itachi just couldn't understand. Never having to go without, he couldn't understand. Never having an addiction other then cigarettes, he couldn't understand either. Cigarettes were a habit more then addiction to him anyway. He was sure he could quite anytime he wanted. It was a matter of willpower and if he ever wanted to test his own levels it would be that way. But Deidara was addicted to worse things then cigarettes, though he had that problem too. Drugs. Alcohol. Pain killers. No one would help him either when he was in pain. Even Daichi turned his back on him when he came home nearly crawling in because he hurt so bad and it was too cold to stay outside. No one questioned Daichi's actions. Itachi wanted to ask him, but never seemed to find a moment to do so.

"How bad of a masochist are you?" Itachi said in a soft voice, trying to make it sound joking by smiling a little, but by the look on Deidara's face it came out looking like pity, but Itachi continued, "if you need money, you could always ask."

The muscles in Deidara's face were moving just slightly, changing his expression to angry, to irritated, to confused before resting in a blank expression that gave away nothing. "I don't need money, un," he told him, lips pursed tightly together.

"But you need drugs," Itachi murmured just as soft as before, watching Deidara's expression carefully. He might need to defend himself if Deidara got too angry with him. "You need pain killers. So you need money."

"Why the hell are you talking like you know, un?" Deidara demanded angrily, barely noticing Itachi's hand slipping in his hair to feel over the strands. It was so soft in his fingers, not dry and rough from over bleaching like he normally saw. Deidara's features were too different to be full Japanese. He wondered what else was in his blood as Deidara continued to rant at him. "You don't know what I need or want! Stop acting like you know everything, un!"

Just shaking his head softly at him, Itachi replied, "Deidara I've seen you... You try to hide it, but I've seen you come home in so much pain. Seen you sick from too many pain killers the next day. I've seen you go through withdrawals when you can't get drugs for a while." The first time he'd seen it, he had thought something was wrong. When he pointed out to Daichi, concerned for him, Daichi had told him to leave it alone. It was then Itachi had realized why Daichi ignored him when he was in pain. Daichi didn't approve of his lifestyle. He didn't approve of the clubbing and the drinking and the drugs and the extra source of income. Daichi didn't approve, so he wouldn't help him, even if he couldn't move because he was in pain. Deidara didn't want Itachi to see him like that. He had seen him try to hide it from him, not wanting to look so...

"I'm not pathetic like that, un!" Deidara said angrily, fists clenched like he'd pull them back to hit him.

"I didn't say you were," Itachi told him, then added, "You should see me without coffee."

Deidara started to give him an annoyed look, thinking that was a lame attempt when Mikoto knocked and opened the door. "Here's your pizza, boys," she told them, setting the large box on Itachi's desk. "I brought cups and soda up for you too." Calling Sasuke to come down for food, she slipped out leaving them alone.

Her interruption was enough to let Deidara's anger simmer down into nothing, frowning at himself now more then Itachi. Sitting up on the bed, no longer leaning over him, Itachi stretched his back then glanced over at the pizza, letting him think while he wondered what Mikoto chose for them. He hoped not mushrooms. God, he hated mushrooms.

"Does your mom not mind, un..?" Deidara's question broke through his thoughts on the evil of supposedly edible fungus to draw his attention back to him. "If you were...? About me...?" He frowned again, trying to get the right words out. "You with guys?"

"I think I was given the most wonderful, understanding mother in compensation for having such a shitty father," Itachi replied, grinning a little as he got up to check on the fungus status. He opened the lid curiously, then frowned. Damn it. "I hate mushrooms."

"I'll take yours," Deidara said, following him over and hopping up to sit on the desk top. He pulled out a large slice for himself and started munching on it. Itachi had learned quickly how much food Deidara could ingest, despite being so small. It had been quite alarming the first time, but he got use to it. That small little mouth could take one hell of a bite. Taking his own piece, he happily transferred the offending topping to Deidara's slice, leaving the pepperoni, peppers and onions in tack. "So she doesn't mind?"

"No," Itachi said after swallowing his mouthful. If only everyone in the room had such manners. "She probably regrets not having grandchildren, but that's what Sasuke's for." There was another silence between them as they ate through their pizza. They were supposed to have four slices each, but Itachi let Deidara have five. He wasn't that hungry. "So have you finished your make up work?" he asked to break the silence.

"School? Why are you bringing up school?" Deidara cried around a mouthful, puffing his cheeks out more in irritation.

"Because we've missed a lot of school days and have to at least make up the work!" Itachi replied after swallowing. Missing school. God, it felt like a crime.

"The whole city knows of your family dilemma, I'm sure they'll let you fly, un. Everyone knows you're a genius anyway, un," Deidara said, rolling his eyes.

"What about you? I'm going to be getting ready for college soon. Who's going to help you do your make up work when you don't go?" He watched Deidara blink in surprise, head tilted to the side slightly. Did he know how cute it was when he did that? Like a curious puppy. Did he not know he'd be going to college next year? Deidara was a year younger then him. It was March now, graduation was in May and between then and the first of July, he'd be packing and getting ready to go away for four years of college, maybe more if he wanted to continue his studies.

"You've applied already?" Deidara was asking. "When did you do that?"

"I'm an Uchiha. Colleges have been begging for my attendance since I started high school. Free rides," he said, pointing to a stack of letters on his book case. "I sent my applications out in December so I could have time to study and not have to worry about it later. I just have to pick one."

Deidara leaned over to pick up the stack, setting his drink down on the counter. "You haven't yet, un?" he asked, leafing through the impressive stack of acceptance letters to the law schools in Japan.

"Not officially, but—"

"You should go to..." Deidara thumbed through them, searching through the envelopes to find a certain emblem. "This one."

Glancing at the letter, Itachi nodded. "Thats the one I was looking at, but it's over four hours away..." Itachi said. "I wouldn't even be able to visit on the week ends."

"But you have to go to the best school and this is the best, un," Deidara insisted, waving it in his face. "The head mistress is one of the top lawyers in Japan."

"...How'd you know that?" Itachi asked, startled.

"I know somethings, un," Deidara retorted, looking slightly offended.

"About law school?" Itachi asked in disbelief. The side glance away from him told him no, no matter what Deidara told him. Deidara didn't know much about law school, but then how did he know about this school? Deidara grew up in this city... the school was so far away.

"Yeah," Deidara replied, regardless of Itachi's thoughts. "I'll come visit you if you want, un," he added to chance the subject.

Surprise crossed Itachi's face again, visible though he intended to hide it. Deidara's flushing face showed him it showed quite well. In his haste to change the subject, Deidara had blurted something out without thinking. "Going to miss me?" he asked.

"No!" Deidara snapped in the same manner he had in the garage, face growing darker. "Law students are boring, un! I just thought you'd need something to distract you! Fine, I wont, un!"

Scoffing at his denial, Itachi tugged him onto his lap, wrapping his arms around him tightly as he started struggle in protest. "Why are you so embarrassed about missing me?" Itachi asked softly, whispering in his ear. He felt Deidara shiver slightly in his arms. Oh yes, little blond demon boy. He knew his weaknesses. Few as they were. "I'll miss you and I'd be thrilled if you came to visit."

"...really?" Deidara asked, taken aback. When Itachi nodded, he had to blink a few times before managing to roll his eyes as though he thought that was pathetic.

"Will you go to school while I'm gone?" An irritable look crossed the blond's face, so he continued hurriedly. "Deidara, you're so smart, you just don't want to do the work. If you pass, you'll be a senior next year."

"I'm not going to college, un," Deidara huffed, turning his head away from him.

"No one said you had too," Itachi told him with a sigh. He watched Deidara pick up the last piece of crust to chew on instead of responding. Deidara always hated to talk about school. "I'll make a deal with you," he said to catch his attention again. "If you graduate high school and take a few classes at an Art college, I'll buy you your own Porsche and put it all in your name."

The darkest look Itachi had ever seen crossed over Deidara's face. He looked like he was plotting the death of someone and was turning manic while doing it. Itachi wasn't sure if it was himself or someone else he was plotting against until Deidara muttered Daichi's name under his breath. Ah, yes. His source of information. At least he knew this source wouldn't be murdered, just plotted against.

"Where are you going to get the money for a Porsche, un?" Deidara finally demanded, arms still crossed despite the fact that Itachi was holding him closer, mouth nibbling on his neck.

"I'm going to school for criminal profiles and law," Itachi told him as though that explained it all. Deidara didn't really know what kind of job that was, but apparently it was a lot of money.

As Deidara thought on it, wondering what kind of job would let you make enough to just get some one a Porsche, Itachi leaned into nibble over his neck softly, moving towards his ear to kiss him again. "You're awfully affectionate today, un," Deidara commented, glancing back at him again. The only time Itachi ever really wanted to be close with clothes on was when he was cold. And it was never like this.

"Mmm... I'm just happy to be home," Itachi replied softly. "And I had a good time with you and the others. It was probably the best holiday break I've ever had. Even though it was three months extra."

"Best kind," Deidara informed him, grinning as though he'd planned it all for Itachi. He was so easily pleased with himself. Even when it wasn't something he'd done. Itachi leaned back to watch him finish the last of his soda, smile slowly fading into a thoughtful look. "Why would you want to go out with me, un?" he asked him.

"Why not?" Itachi replied. He found it an odd question when everyone seemed to be willing to pay so much for just one night with him. Sure, Deidara was hard to deal with sometimes with his too big ego and temper, but Itachi hadn't lost it yet because of it.

"You do realize that people I've officially dated haven't lasted longer then date number two right, un?" Deidara questioned.

"Why's that?"

"Because I get bored, un," Deidara replied, folding his arms as he slid off his lap to stand.

"My psychic genius is telling me you're scared of commitment," Itachi said, raising an eyebrow at him as he picked up his own glass of soda.

"I'm not scared of anything, un!" he snapped back, stomping his foot on the ground.

Snorting into his drink, he covered his mouth in case anything came out in places it shouldn't when he snickered. When he was sure he had control of the liquid in his mouth, he swallowed and turned to face him. "Did you just stomp your foot?" Itachi asked, grinning at him. His immature moments were hilarious to Itachi, especially when he called him on it and his face turned red and cheeks puffed out like it was now. "I was just kidding." Well, he sort of was. Nothing Deidara did seemed to last long, not even his attention span. His thoughts on untreated ADD came to mind again, but he left that alone. "You think I'm going around looking for true love to bite me on the ass and never let go?"

"Sounds boring, un," Deidara said, dropping down on the edge of the bed, arms still folded.

"Yeah, but I was hopping my irresistible charm and unrivaled sex skills would at least get me to date number three," Itachi said, earning a laugh from the blond. He watched him leaned back on his hands still laughing before correcting himself. "Unrivaled maybe until you came along, but at least I can make you laugh," he added as Deidara cracked up again.

"I think you have pretty unrivaled sex skills," Deidara said, still laughing from his bed. "But then again, I don't know what it's like to have sex with me, so I guess that's just a matter of opinion, un."

"Good to know I can please even you," Itachi said, leaning back in his chair. "Not that I had any doubt my unbelievably hot athletic body couldn't."

Deidara snickered again as he laid back completely on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Itachi had successfully learned over the passed three months how to make Deidara laugh at what he said without making him mad, and how to wait patiently for his anger to subside since even that didn't last long. While he knew how to deal with his mood changes, this moment wasn't the first time he'd wished he could know what was going on in the blond's head. He'd never seen someone so loud and short tempered to be so absorbed in his thoughts. It never took much to send him off in a day dream and usually Itachi had to wait until he was completely finished before he could find out what he was thinking about. Itachi watched his smile slowly faded into a thoughtful look before he sat up again, his thoughts concluded. "I think I should go, un," he told him.

Not expecting that, Itachi raised an eyebrow in question, finishing the rest of his drink before getting up with Deidara to take their trash down stairs. "Okay?" he said, wondering how he came to that.

"I think your mom wants to spend time with you," Deidara said with a shrug. "You're going back to school tomorrow right?"

"Yeah," Itachi said, nodding to Mikoto and Sasuke who smiled at them when they came down. "So I'll see you tomorrow." He gave Deidara a stern look as he made a face at the thought of going back to school. When Deidara finally rolled his eyes and nodded, Itachi gave him a small smile, then let him say good bye to them, declining the offered ride.

Yes, he assured Itachi at the door as he put his shoes on. He'd see him at school tomorrow.

Fuck he hated school. After three months, he didn't really want to go back now. Sure cheap lunches were good and all, but he hated listening to teachers lectures and doing school work. He didn't have an excuse for his absences like Itachi did and he doubted anyone would believe him if he told them that he'd been taking care of Itachi during his absence. Deidara pulled his headphones out of his pocket and shoved them over his ears. With his hands in his pockets to stay warm and to control the player, he started the drudge back home.

With out his even noticing, Itachi had gotten under his skin. What was wrong with him? He never let himself get so friendly with people. Especially people who just wanted to get in his pants. But Itachi had already gotten in them and he still came back. Deidara couldn't really figure that one out. No one had ever done that before. At least not since the eighth grade. It was really confusing him, because he couldn't remember ever giving Itachi any move that he wanted him more then that. When _had _ he wanted him like that? When had it started? He couldn't remember. It wasn't like him to want someone else around. Or that someone else to want him around. When Itachi had been in bed and offered him to sleep with him instead, he always thought that maybe Itachi was weirded out by sleeping in a weird place with a bunch of other people sleeping in the same room and he was comforting him some how, or maybe he was cold and Deidara was just keeping him warm. The third option was that Itachi just want him to have sex, but if that was so, why had Deidara accepted the invite to sleep with him so often, even if they didn't do anything? He concluded that he'd been delusional and decided that the first two were more probable then the third.

So where to now? Back home to put up with the constant teasing from the others because he was being nice to Itachi? Or off somewhere else to enjoy the night before he had to go to school the next day because he was stupid and promised he'd be there? He was supposed to be meeting someone tonight, but they'd be pretty mad by now if they bothered to wait for him. He was far more then fashionably late by now. There'd be people at school who'd probably want things tomorrow, so he changed directions and went towards the club down town most people he knew went to.

The neon lights were flashing as they always did, he could almost hear the beat of the music from outside, but even clubs had to abide by the rules of the lease. People were standing outside with bottles in their hands drinking, laughing and making out. Morons. It was cold outside. The bouncer at the door greeted him, motioning him inside without even bothering to check his fake ID. Ignoring the dancers on the floor and the drinkers at the bar, he went to the back table in the corner where a few men were lounging with a couple barely dressed girls. Again. Morons.

"Deidara," the man in the far back greeted, lifting his drink up in his direction before downing back the drink. "What can I do for you?"

"I need some powder, un," Deidara said after pulling his headphones off his ears to stick in his pockets again. There wasn't really any point in them now, with the music so loud.

"For yourself or you going to sell for me?" the man asked, leaning back against the cushioned bench.

"Both," Deidara said, reaching into his back pocket to pull out a folded stack of bills. Counting out the right amount, he handed them to the man, sticking the rest deep into his pocket to save from sticky fingers in the club. He took the bag from the man then turned and walked away. He didn't like them, never had. He came, he bought, he left. End of transaction.

If he'd ever been claustrophobic, coming to clubs like this had cured him of it. People were everywhere and everyone was close. The smell of sweat meshed with too much perfume and alcohol. When he'd first gone to the clubs when he was younger, he thought the smell was revolting, but he was so use to it now it was just another familiar smell. He was contemplating going home or staying for a drink to see if he could make up for the lost money from buying when a hand reached out to grab his arm, dragging him back through the people towards the door. The lights were not helping his eyes to see who was pulling him when he was pulled back out of the warm building into the cold air again. Shoved against a dark car, he turned around angrily to face the person, but stopped.

"You're late. Get in."

Shit. "Sorry," Deidara said, putting on a coy little smile as though he'd planned to be late. "I ran into some problems on the way here, un."

"Get in," the man said, motioning for the back seat of the car. Deidara cursed to himself under his breath as he did, saying hello to the man's driver in the front seat. The man nodded disinterested and waited until the door was shut before pulling away. Deidara chewed on his lip a little. He hadn't gotten a chance to stick himself with what would serve as a buffer to this guy. He looked pissed too.

Turning to say something, his words were silenced as a hand slid over his cheek to grip in his hair to drag him over the seat towards him. Expensive bourbon was on his lips as he kissed Deidara who winced at the grip in his hair that grew tighter. He didn't feel like doing this tonight, damn it! Hands on the man's chest, he pulled away from him.

"Look, not to—" his words were silenced again as a hand came over his cheek. Hard.

"You made me wait almost an hour for you," the man growled.

Deidara glared at him, trying to pull away more, but he was held down tightly. "I lost track of time, un," he snapped back. "Let me out, I don't want to do this tonight, un."

"Drive," the man said to his driver as he held Deidara down. He seemed to know that if he had to Deidara would jump out the window of a moving car to get away. "I'm paying you," he was reminded when the car finally pulled up to the big house. "You don't have a choice."

"Yes, I do, un!" Deidara snapped angrily, trying to push passed him to bolt for the street again.

Mr Asshole as Deidara decided to call him since he couldn't remember his name, snapped his fingers for the driver to come and take Deidara inside. "You're in my house on my time," he told him taking his jacket off to hang in the hall closet. "Take him upstairs.

Mr. Driver was a lot younger then Mr. Asshole – Deidara couldn't remember either of their names – and stronger too. Deidara still fought against him, growing angrier by the minute because they weren't letting him go. He didn't want it! He never really wanted it, not from people like this. Deidara didn't know what it was, but seeing Itachi, who wanted what people like Mr Asshole did, but waited for Deidara to want it too... it made him look down on these men more then ever. Sick perverts that married for names and money, who would rather fuck a drugged up teenager then their own wife. His wife never knew about him, but he didn't know that her girls night out at the country club was some times held with professional strippers and she would sometimes go to a hotel with one of them. He didn't know about her, she didn't know about him. Deidara only knew because he knew one of the strippers.

She got home at ten thirty on a normal night out. It was almost nine now. And hour and a half. He saved himself an entire hour of his painful sadistic abuse. This man liked his toys. He liked his toys and he liked to see people whimpering and begging under him. Why he couldn't find a sexy girl to drag home instead of him was unknown to Deidara. Maybe he was one of those morons who didn't consider it cheating if it was with the same gender. Sex was sex and cheating was cheating. Even if you paid for it.

It didn't matter if he said no, or how much he struggled and fought. Once he was restrained to the bed and Mr Asshole joined him in the bedroom it was viewed as playful disobedience that wanted the punishment so easily given out. Deidara was such a good actor after all, it was hard to tell when he was being serious. The hands on the clock dragged agonizingly slow until he was finally pushed into the bathroom to clean himself off so he wouldn't track anything through the house on his way out. It hurt to move, but he still washed off as best he could with a robotic feeling to himself. Shutting himself off was a good way to get through nights like this, though it was much easier with the help of the drugs he'd been denied taking before hand. As he stared at his reflexion in the bathroom mirror, the door he'd shut himself behind started opening a little, letting his anger come out again.

This man.

Wouldn't be seeing him again.

This man.

Was going to pay.

Taking a small handful of hand sanitizer, he reached up and wrote on the mirror with his finger. It would be invisible until the shower turned on, steaming up everything except the words:

**Check under mattress for black book of whores and office for fuck toys.**

**He's cheating **

for his wife to find when she came home that night. She was his source of money after all.

A wad of bills was thrust into his hand from the driver as he was left at the end of the street Daichi's shop was on. He never let any of them see where he lived, just had them drop him off around the area. Great. He didn't even want the money now, but he shoved it in his pocket anyway and limped down the street. He didn't feel like walking, but it was too cold to curl up on a bench for the night. It was a very slow walk to the garage.

When he got inside, angry disappointment greeting him. Daichi was still awake and working on a customer's car. Very few people knew about Daichi's past self, only one or two besides Rin and Deidara had ever seen it. He kept it hidden from the others, but there was no one else in the room but the two of them. He took in his bleeding wounds, his limp and his bruised face and knew he hadn't stayed with Itachi after he left.

"Daichi—"

"Go to bed, Deidara," Daichi's cold voice commanded. His hand was clenched around the tool in his hand so tightly his knuckles were white.

"Daichi, please help me, un," he whispered. He hated asking for help, but the walk back to the shop had been the last of his energy, he could barely stay standing now. He hated how his body was shaking, how he couldn't get his voice to go any louder. He'd told Itachi he wasn't pathetic, but he was. His ego just wouldn't let him see it until he got like this.

"No," Daichi said, turning his back on him to start putting his tools away, cleaning off his hands and closing the hood of the car with a loud noise as metal struck metal.

"I have to go to school tomorrow, un! Daichi, _please_," he felt his knees give out under him and the concrete floor coming closer. His hands caught his head from smashing down, but he let himself sink onto the freezing floor. He just couldn't get up again. It was a few moments of waiting before Deidara lifted his head to look up at Daichi to see if he was going to help, but the mechanic continued to ignore him like he wasn't there, turning the light off and going out the back door to the house he shared with Rin, leaving him on the floor by himself. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Twilight Chapter 14**

Chapter 14

Sorry for the wait, I kinda forgot that I hadn't finished posting on this site.

* * *

After being around Deidara so much during the day, the school day was slow for Itachi. He never passed Deidara in school, though he never did compare schedules with him to see if they could (that sounded too girly in his head), so he had to wait until the last class of the day to see Deidara. He wanted to ask someone if he was even here, not wanting to face total disappointment if he had decided not to come, but he didn't want to sound obvious.

He hurried to the gymnasium with more hast then normal. Why was he so excited to see Deidara? He felt like a middle schooler chasing after a crush in school. Deidara wasn't a crush. Itachi did not have crushes. Period. But he did like being around Deidara. The blond just pulled him in no matter how often he pushed Itachi away. He didn't seen Deidara in the locker room when he changed into his gym uniform. His excitement dropped a little until he walked out to wait for attendance call.

Deidara was talking to the teacher.

Itachi smiled and went to the bleachers to sit down, watching the two of them talk. He couldn't see Deidara's face, but the teacher was frowning in a thoughtful manner. He watched Deidara hand something to the teacher, who read it and sighed, nodding. Deidara turned and walked back to the locker rooms, picking up the article book and worksheet people had to do when they weren't participating and disappear. He didn't even look towards the bleachers.

The teacher called out their names, marking down who was here and who wasn't, then waved them on to start running laps around the gym. Getting up, Itachi hurried over to the teacher, handing him the pass the principle had given him at the beginning of homeroom.

"Glad to see you back and alright, Itachi-kun," the teacher said with a wide smile, meaning what he said. "I'm sorry about all the problems with your family."

Itachi just shrugged. He'd been hearing that all day. "Where's Deidara going?" he asked, glancing back towards the locker rooms as the teacher made a mark in his grading book so Itachi wouldn't get penalized for the days he missed. The school was giving him a special pass for it. Everyone knew what was going on with the Uchihas. Most were just happy Itachi was alive.

"He had a special pass to not get dressed today," the teacher said, waving it off.

"Is something wrong?" Itachi asked, curiously looking at the lockers as though Deidara would walk out so he could see.

"There are many things wrong with that boy, Itachi-kun," the teacher said, handing the pass back to him, signed and dated. "It's probably fake anyway."

Itachi frowned and started jogging with the others. Earlier in the school year, he would have said the same thing. Actually, now that he thought about it, he still would. There was many things wrong with Deidara, but nothing that should be looked down on like these teachers did. He didn't mind Deidara's faults and weird personality anymore, but maybe he was just use to them.

They were outside running today. After the warm up jogging and stretching, Itachi realized how little he'd exercised when he was out. That wasn't good. Itachi liked staying in shape, liked going jogging in the morning before school, or after school, but he'd completely forgotten about running when he was at Daichi's place. Plus with his arm still mending he probably couldn't, but he hadn't even done any stretches or minor work out things. He'd have to push himself to get back into shape again.

Timed laps today. Excellent. The weather was warming up and the track field had been cleared of snow and ice. Everyone in his class were so lazy, dropping out or just plain walking instead of running. He finished first, despite that his legs and shoulders were burning from the sudden change. They got use to laziness the passed three months, but he would push them back to work. Ignoring the teacher, who said he could sit out now since he finished, he kept running, slowing down to a jog. It wasn't good to push himself so soon, but he hated the thought of being lazy, or getting out of shape. He'd talked to Deidara about going running or to a gym once or twice, but the blond assured him that he was as fit as he needed to be. "Sex is a great work out, didn't you know, un?" had been his reply to Itachi. What an idiot. Yes, he knew that, but there were other ways of working out that were fun as well.

When he finally returned to the locker room, nearly everyone was finished showering and dressed, waiting for the bell to ring with the OK to go home. Itachi noticed nearly right away that everyone was being quieter then normal, whispering amongst themselves. They looked like they were trying to not let the person they were whispering about overhear them, despite the obviousness of them. He thought it must have been about himself – whispers had been following him all day – but they didn't stop when he came in, so maybe it wasn't. As he pulled his shirt and shorts off, wrapping a towel around his waist to go into the showers, he overhear snip-its of their whispers on the other side of the lockers.

"Did you see his face?"

"Forget his face, did you see the rest of him?"

"I can't believe his parents let him go to school like that!"

"Dude, he doesn't have any."

"He's never here anyway, why'd he come looking like that?"

Deidara. They were talking about Deidara.

"Where is he?" Itachi demanded, stepping around the lockers to glare at them. They sounded like a bunch of gossiping middle school girls, it disgusted him.

"The showers," one stammered, looking as shocked at his sudden demand as the others. "Why do you care?"

But Itachi was already going towards the showers with the locker room finally silent behind him. The whole room was tiled, but several showers lined the walls to let the boys shower in privacy. Only one shower was still running, but it was making the whole bathroom steam up. What were the boys talking about? What was wrong with Deidara face? Going over to the shower, he opened the curtain and looked down at the blond. Eyes widening slightly, he reached over and shut the water off that was on so hot it was turning Deidara's skin bright red, though it wasn't enough to hide the long red marks running along his whole body, like someone had taken a whip to him.

Startled by the intrusion, Deidara looked up with an angry expression, but it turned to a startled one when he saw Itachi. Now Itachi saw what the others had meant. Deidara had a horrible looking bruise on the side of his face and one on his jaw, but that was only the start of the damage. The further down his neck his eye went the darker the bruises became, littered with bite marks and scabbing cuts. His back and chest were covered on those long red marks and bruises that got more painful looking the lower his eyes went on his body. Stopping himself from looking too far, he grabbed Deidara's towel and knelt down to wrap him up, gently toweling him down. He saw Deidara open and close his mouth to day something, but nothing came out.

Reaching up, Itachi pushed his dripping hair off his face to see him better. "Deidara, what happened?" he asked softly. He was aware that the teacher had appeared at the door, intaking his breath sharply when he saw Deidara. Believe his note's legit now? Itachi thought darkly.

"I'm fine," Deidara finally managed to say, though he looked away. "I didn't allow this, he dragged me there and tied me down Itachi, I swear, un!" His voice had started in a quiet disinterested voice, but quickened slightly as he tried to explain himself. He didn't want Itachi to see him like this, he felt so dirty and pathetic. "I went to the club to talk to someone, but he dragged me to his house, I didn't go with him, un!"

"It's okay, Deidara," Itachi said, trying to calm him down as he gently toweled him dry. "I believe you."

"My god..." the teacher said, coming into the showers with another towel. "Everyone, go home. The bell rang already."

Itachi heard the reluctant feet that had followed the teacher to the door departing, but he didn't want the teacher in here either. Deidara was still naked and obviously embarrassed about the state he was in. He didn't need anyone else here too. Especially someone he didn't like. He felt Deidara shrink away from the teacher when he came closer, so Itachi easily picked him up and set him on his lap, away from the man. "Now do you believe him?" Itachi snapped.

The gym teacher looked startled, then frowned at the teenager trying to talk down on him. It didn't matter if it was an Uchiha or not. "It was hard to tell with just his face showing," he said in his defense. "Give him to me, I'll take him to the nurse... maybe the hospital. This is assault. Sexual assault!"

"Obviously," Itachi snapped at him, then snatched the new towel from the teacher and wrapped Deidara up in it, using the first one to towel dry his hair. He couldn't help by grin in amusement when he stood up, hearing Deidara's startled shock as his arms wrapped around Itachi's neck as though he was worried he'd be dropped. "Now we're even, right?" he asked him, carrying him out to the lockers to help him change back into his clothes. When Deidara gave him a confused expression, Itachi just shrugged. "You helped me, now I'm helping you."

"You're not taking me to the hospital?" Deidara asked as Itachi pulled his shirt over his head, sounding relieved.

"You told me you hated hospitals," Itachi said with a shrug, handing him his pants then went over to get dressed himself. He could get a shower later. When he came back, Deidara was standing with the teacher next to him, glaring at the man any time he came close. Grinning a little, Itachi came up behind him and picked up the blond's school bag, then easily lifted Deidara off the ground. He was too light. Next chance he got he'd have to stuff him full of food. Although Deidara was always thin, any other way might be weird.

"Hey!" he gasped in shock, earning another amused grin from Itachi. "I can walk you know, un! You don't have to carry me!"

"I know, but I want to. You're so light," Itachi told him, carrying out of the locker room.

Despite the gym teachers arguments the whole walk to the car, Itachi didn't take him to the nurse's office, or the principles office, or call the hospital. He just took him away from the school. The teacher threw a fit as Itachi put Deidara in the passenger seat, rolling his eyes in annoyance at the ranting adult behind him. That earned a small grin from Deidara as he shut the door and walked around to get in himself. What was the teacher going to do to him? Suspend him for helping a friend?

Deidara was never much of a talker until he got started – then he never stopped, but Itachi had never heard him so quiet before. He just stared out the window, watching the people on the side walks go by. When he was at the city limits, Itachi pulled over and turned to face him.

"Who did it?" Itachi demanded.

"An asshole."

"That narrows it down to only ninety-nine percent of the world population," Itachi said with a little scoff.

"Don't worry about it, un," Deidara told him, leaning back against his seat. "I already got back at him, un... You're talking like you're gonna go after him or something."

Ouch. He got that one right. Itachi kept his face impassive so as not to let Deidara have the joy of reading him right. "Deidara, you're really hurt," Itachi muttered to complain.

"I would have enjoyed it any other time, un," Deidara grumbled back at him, folding his arms. "I just didn't want it last night."

"...You like that masochist stuff?" He watched Deidara give a lazy shrug then a nod. What a weird teenager. Sure Itachi didn't exactly hate that kind of stuff, but he didn't let other people do it to him to this extent. "You didn't have to come to school like this."

"I promised."

"You should have called me for a ride."

"Didn't want you to worry, un."

"Deidara..." Itachi growled. Deidara gave him an innocent look, which Itachi ignored, but dropped and changed the subject. "To Daichi's?"

"No, the apartments. Daichi's not happy with me, un," he told him, glancing away from him. "He doesn't believe me."

"Believe what?"

"That I didn't want it."

"Why?"

"Why are you asking so many damn questions, un?" Deidara snapped, glaring at him suspiciously as he folded his arms again. When Itachi just looked at him without answering, he sighed angrily and continued. "Daichi's not a saint, you know. He doesn't like it when I go out and come back all messed up... He'd ignore me even if I was bleeding to death on the floor."

"...Sorry Dei..." Itachi said, thinking on it for a moment before putting the car in gear and pulled out to drive deeper into the city. "Deidara," he corrected himself. "Do you want anything first?"

Deidara grinned a little at Itachi correcting himself. He had barely noticed it this time. "I'm okay," he assured him. There wasn't much to say for the rest of the ride, Itachi thinking on what he'd learned, wondering how Daichi could be so cruel when a friend was hurt. It just didn't sound like Daichi. When they got to the apartment, Itachi pulled around the back to hide his car from the general public, still paranoid about leaving it out of sight when he came down here, and went around to help Deidara out of the car.

"I can walk," the blond told him. Itachi held his hands up and walked with him around to the front door. Idiot and his ego. He watched his limp carefully, ready to catch him if he fell.

Rin's brown eyes were wide and round when she came to the door and saw the two of them. Not surprised, but full of concern as Deidara walked in, Itachi right behind him. She gave a brief smile at them, but didn't greet them cheerfully like she usually did. After the door was shut, she paused with a frown then went down to her room, hand rubbing her swollen belly as she went to make a phone call.

"Someone had fun last night!"

"Dei you should share some of that with us!"

"Yeah, we'll treat you right!"

Itachi almost groaned. They never stopped did they? At Daichi's and here. No one stopped teasing the youngest of the group, but Deidara ignored them, letting Itachi into his room before shutting and locking out the voices. Shuffling over to the mattress on the floor, Deidara collapsed on the bed with a sigh. Itachi sat down far more gracefully then that, reaching over to pull his still damp hair off his face.

"You want any ice for that?" he asked, letting his thumb gently trace over the dark purple bruises.

"No thanks... I'm use to it. And taking care of myself, un," he told him, holding still for him.

"What would you do if you were alone?"

Deidara glanced away and shrugged. "Stick myself with a needle and lay down, un," Deidara told him. He didn't want to look at him when he said that. Deidara was always shy about his drugs when Itachi was around. He didn't know why, but Itachi knew his presence made for a few withdrawals from not wanting to use around him. He always did it when Itachi wasn't around.

"Why don't you? I wont mind..." he told him, watching Deidara's face. Five months and he still didn't understand what was going on in his head. "Where do you get it? I'll get some for you."

"There's stuff in my bag..."

Itachi watched him prepare the powder he'd taken out of the bag. Watched him tie his arm up and clean and fill the needle. He'd never seen someone sticking themselves for drugs before, he was a little curious. Information to store away for later use. The inside of Deidara's elbow was dark with old, new, faded and scared needle marks from multiple uses. Itachi winced a little. It made him wonder how he never noticed them before. He must not have been paying attention, but that did explain why Deidara wore his long sleeve school uniform not matter how hot it was.

He wouldn't have left, but he was curious of the drugs effects, watching the change in him take place would have made him stay if he had wanted to go. The drug made Deidara very giggly, laughing at the dumbest things. With only a short amount of prodding, Deidara told him in great detail what had happened last night, snickering the whole time without noticing the slightly sick and angry look on Itachi's face. It was in no way directed at him, but had he been in any other state of mind, he would have stopped.

"It just makes me so mad, un!" Deidara told him, lounging on the bed with Itachi propped up on his own elbow next to him. "You don't push me to get what you want like they do... and you're i_so_/i much prettier then them, un... and gots a bigger dick them them, un. Much bigger," he added with another laugh. Seeing Deidara acting like this was very strange, Itachi wasn't sure what to make of it, but he couldn't help but smirk at that statement. "Anyway, when I was cleaning up I left a message for his wife to find so he's totally getting busted cause she's the majority of his money source, un."

"Very sneaky," Itachi told him, giving him a half grin. He would have preferred beating the mans brains out, but that worked too. "So what happened when you got home?"

"Well, Daichi was the only one awake and he just doesn't like people who let people do horrible things to them so he was reaaaally mad and just left me on the floor, un," Deidara told him. "He use to be mean all the time, but because he and Rin are gonna have a baby, he wants to be a good daddy so he tries not to be mean so much, but he was mean last night, un."

"Everyone seemed to be mean to you last night," Itachi commented, frowning a little.

"That's why I like you so much more then anyone else, un," Deidara told him, crawling over to kiss Itachi's startled lips, surprised by his gesture. "You're so nice to me when you're not being a dick." Itachi rolled his eyes at that as Deidara's mouth moved to his neck, his hands moving over Itachi's shoulders to slide lower towards his butt to grab.

"Deidara," Itachi warned, lightly pushing him away. "Did you forget you're hurt?"

"'Tis but a scratch', un," Deidara quoted, then burst out laughing. Itachi let his head fall into his hand, sighing softly at the ridiculous things coming out of Deidara's mouth. Did everyone act like this when they were high? He'd never seen Deidara so hyper before, let alone talk so much in one sitting.

"You didn't have to come to school just because I said to if you were hurt," Itachi told him, reaching over to catch a lock of gold hair that caught the light from the window. Itachi hadn't seen such a pretty pale color before. It was very natural, despite it's paleness. Unlike Itachi, Deidara must be only half Japanese. It made him wonder what the other half was.

"Yeah, but you wanna hear a secret?" Deidara was whispering to him. "I really, really like you, un." He snickered again, snuggling up against his chest as he wrapped his arms around his waist so he could cuddle deeper against him. "And I wanna go out with you, but don't tell anyone though. It's a secret, un!"

"...Can I know?" Itachi asked, looking down at him.

"Yes~" he cooed in a sing song voice.

"Okay, I'll keep it a secret," Itachi assured him, grinning despite himself. Maybe getting Deidara high was a good thing. He talked more then he normally did, which Itachi liked, and without guarding his words, which he liked even better. He didn't understand the blond. Nothing he did made sense in Itachi's head. It made him want to dig deeper and deeper until he understood. Daichi had commented, however jokingly, that Deidara had lost his mind at a young age. That might be possible, and would explain his bizarre personality and moods, but still... Itachi just wanted to know what was going on in his head. "Hey, if you go to sleep and take a nap, I'll take you on a drive when you wake up. Just us."

"Really? Up the mountain?"

"Yeah," Itachi told him. "But you have to take a nap first and feel better when you wake up."

"Okay," Deidara said, snuggling against him to bury his face against Itachi's chest, murmuring how warm and comfortable he was.

After moving Deidara's bag back onto the floor, Itachi laid down himself to be more comfortable. The two of him snuggling like this reminded him of when he was bedridden and Deidara would come visit and fall asleep with him. Usually it was after Deidara was with someone, always very tired and clumsy. Was he ever as bad as he was now and Itachi just never noticed? During his story telling, Deidara had mentioned that he hadn't gotten a chance to use the drug before the man got to him and that was why he was more of a mess. Apparently the drug blocked out the pain until it ebbed away it's self to be bearable. Was he always high when he came to see him afterwards too? He'd never seen him that hyper before though, so maybe not? He wasn't sure.

As he glanced down at Deidara's bag then at the needle he'd used on the floor. When ever he thought of him using, he remembered the stupid videos the school made them watch on drugs and diseases. "...Hey, Deidara?" Itachi asked softly.

"Mmm...?"

He sounded half asleep, it was rather cute and made Itachi smile a little. "Um... Are you... are you sick?" he asked, hating himself for even asking, but... he wanted to know. He really had the right to know if they were going to be dating. Well, that wasn't official, but they had had sex together... several times.

"Sick...?" Deidara lifted his head to look up at him, blinking bleary eyed. Itachi hadn't thought he'd drop off so soon. He wished he had the ability to go to sleep right when he wanted to. What a rare gift.

Itachi contemplated hitting himself again, chewing on his lip softly. "Sick... from the needles... sex... your lifestyle...? Really sick, I mean..." he stammered out, not sure how to explain it to him without bursting out with the question.

It took a moment or two for sleepy Deidara to understand what he was asking him. "No... no I'm not sick, un," he told him. "I don't have any diseases or anything... I'm real careful... and my friends a doctor... I go... to him for... check ups... an' stuff..."

He smiled in relief as Deidara dozed off in his arms. He surprised himself by realizing he hadn't been worried about getting anything himself. He didn't want Deidara to be sick. Didn't want him hurting or in danger like that. Not feeling very tired himself, he was content to watch Deidara sleep, playing with his unnaturally natural blond hair.

Four hours Deidara slept soundly against him without shifting away or moving at all except for the steady raise and fall of his chest. Itachi's stomach growled, but he ignored it, content to stay like this until Deidara awoke. He wasn't in any hurry for him to get up anyway. He'd seen Deidara, slept with Deidara, but he'd never gotten the chance to really study him before. Whenever Deidara was asleep with him, it was always at night when the room in Daichi's garage was as dark as it could get with the windows stuffed with rags and pillows to keep out the street lights and night air. It was still bright out side and Deidara was asleep, so there was no need to worry about someone catching him staring at him.

Fingers traced over his soft facial skin, feeling each curve, each indent where the bone underneath was set, slightly different from his own. Not Japanese structure, not Caucasian, but a mix of the two. Japanese high cheek bones, unnaturally large eyes and long lashes many young males had that girls envied. His pale hair was free of roots growing in, natural from his scalp to the ends of his hair that brushed his hips, soft and well taken care of. So well taken care of... not like the rest of his body... His expression darkened slightly as he gently touched the purple-blue disfiguration on his face. He wanted to beat the man who did this into a bloody pulp for what he'd done. He wanted to explode everything he was holding in at Daichi for ignoring him while he was in pain.

Seven thirty rolled in and Itachi's stomach growled once again. He was hungry, but it wasn't a necessary thing yet. An image of Deidara grouchy face when he woke up with nothing to eat came to mind, causing him to grin in amusement, but thought better of the no food situation and carefully slid out of Deidara's unconscious embrace to slip out of the room quietly and order them food to be delivered. He also called his mother to let her know where he was. She'd asked him before school that morning to call him if he was going to be out later then normal. He spoke briefly with her before standing outside with a cigarette to wait for the delivery driver.

The man looked skeptical when he arrived and got out of his car. He held the bag of take out in his hand and walked up to the apartment like he didn't know if he was being tricked or not. Appearing slightly relieved when he saw Itachi at the apartment door, he walked up to him, glancing from side to side in panic that he'd be mugged and robbed. Nothing of the sort happened and Itachi just took the food and shoved the money in his hands then shut the door in his face. Curious faces peeked out at him again, the unknown car outside drawing their attention. Itachi ignored them and they wouldn't dare ask him if they could have some. Itachi was so different from them they were a little scared of him.

Daichi was standing at Deidara's landing, hands shoved into his pockets with a thoughtful look on his face. He looked as though he'd just gotten yelled at for teasing his sibling and was being made to apologize. Remembering Rin's concerned frown, Itachi realized that was probably what had happened. Being told off by his wife didn't seem like a very good punishment. Daichi was just reaching up to knock on his door when he noticed Itachi.

An innocent look was given in response to Itachi's glare. "What are you looking at me like that for?" he asked, putting his hand back into his pocket.

"He's hurt," Itachi replied, stepping up the last few steps to be on the same landing, well aware of the faces watching them from the doors and landings.

"Yes?"

"You didn't help him."

"He already knew I wouldn't when he asked me to," Daichi replied. "I don't approve of his life style."

"What if he had been seriously hurt?" Itachi demanded. Hurt like he had been when Deidara had brought him to the garage. If Deidara had ignored him, he'd have been in a lot of trouble.

Daichi gave him a reproachful look, not use to being talked back to by someone. Everyone respected Daichi like he was their friend, but there was always something that held them back from talking against him. They were scared of his calmness. That calm expression that could shatter you into the deepest pit of depression from a tiny glance of disappointment. Itachi didn't put up with that. "That's why I'm here. To check on—"

Itachi pushed passed him, not wanting to hear it. He was here because Rin had told him off over the phone. He was there to check and make sure he wasn't dead or dying. Anything that would have been fatal would have happened last night, not now nearly a full day's afterwards. What could he have done now except helped his conscious feel better? "Don't bother," Itachi said, shutting the door in Daichi's startled face. Locking the door behind him, Itachi smiled at Deidara's stirring figure, going over to help him sit up groggily so he could eat.

* * * * * * * * * *

"I didn't say anything dumb did I?" Deidara asked, folding his arms from where he sat on the passenger seat. He couldn't remember anything that happened earlier that afternoon and Itachi would just give a little smile and not say anything in response to his question. "I didn't say anything embarrassing or ... or something I wouldn't say normally did I, un?"

"Why are you so worried about it?" Itachi asked, turning off the main road to the one lane road that wound up the mountain side.

"Cause I might have said ... I don't know, un!" he cried, slamming his fists down on his knees.

"You might have said something on the lines of... your really, really like me, but I could have been imagining that," Itachi said with a little shrug.

"Yes, I think you imagined that one, un," Deidara said, making it sound like all one word with how fast he said it.

It was driving Deidara insane. More insane then usual. Sure he'd woken up in places he didn't remember going to while under the influence, but he'd never been around someone who didn't make fun of what he did or say during that time. It was making him feel like he said something really bad. i_That_/i was bad. He never intended anyone to know that he was falling for Itachi. Not even Itachi. He had a reputation after all. People came after him. He didn't give a shit about anyone else. It was that simple and saved annoying heart aches and the depressing states he'd seen people in after proclaiming love and affection, or receiving that proclaim and then getting crushed by the anvil of rejection. He felt it once. Once. And it wasn't even from someone he'd dated.

It was her. The her only Daichi and Rin knew. The her that he loved more then anything else in the world. She i_was_/i the world to him, but he was not to her. He knew it to be true, but he still tried to make it up to her, doing everything possible to make her happy, but there was nothing he could do and he had long since stopped trying as much and often, especially with her so far away. Her rejection was the most painful thing he'd ever experienced.

"Want to play the question game?" Itachi asked as he drove carefully around the hair pin turns of the mountain side. The fun part was going down. He'd save that for later.

"What's the question question game, un?" Deidara asked, tucking his feet under his legs, thankful for the change in subject.

"It's a game where I get to ask you any question I want to and you have to answer it truthfully," Itachi explained. "Then you get to ask me a question and I have to answer truthfully."

Scrunching up his nose, Deidara gave him a look. He wanted to pry and was being sneaky about it. He was damn sure there was no such thing as the question game and Itachi had just made it up so he could ask him questions. "What kind of questions, un?" he huffed at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Any question you want," Itachi replied. "And if you refuse to answer a question you have to remove an article of clothing."

"What if I'm out of clothes, un?"

"Then I get to watch you jerk off before I do horrible illegal things to you," Itachi replied. How he could manage to say something that perverted without cracking a grin was beyond Deidara. The Uchiha was the king of monotone when he wanted to be.

"And if I refuse?"

"We skip to the last part," Itachi said, shrugging a little. "It's not that bad. Here, I'll start. What's your favorite color?"

"...Green," Deidara replied, leaning against the door to watch him in case he did something he didn't like. The mountain was always bigger then he thought it was, they were only half way up.

"Your turn."

"Um...What is... your favorite place?" Deidara asked.

"Here," Itachi said with a smile, gesturing to the mountain side. "You're not all Japanese, what's your other half?"

"My mom's from Germany, un," Deidara said. "She's got the same coloring as me. What's your least favorite food?"

Itachi gave a sheepish look before answering. "Crunchy peanut butter. Buttery substances are not supposed to be crunchy," he replied, grinning a little as Deidara laughed aloud. "Who's your favorite person in the world?"

The question was innocent, like someone hoping the answer would be that they were, but it made Deidara stop laughing, glance out the window as a flood of thoughts came through. "...My baby sister, un," he replied quietly.

"You have a baby sister?" Itachi asked in surprise. Yeah, he hadn't expected that answer, it made Deidara grin just a little.

"Yeah, she's turning five soon, un," Deidara told him. "She's really cute."

"Does she look like you?" Itachi asked, pulling around a sharp turn again then glanced over at Deidara.

"She looks more like mom then me," Deidara said with a shrug. "But my father's Japanese and she got his black eyes so it's a bit of a strange combination. What's your most embarrassing moment, un?"

Itachi frowned a little at the sudden change of subject, he wanted to learn more about this sister and his family, but Deidara had flip flopped the train of questions to focus on him. Deidara had been with Daichi since he was ten. That was eight years ago, but if his sister was only just turning five, their parents must still be alive. At least they were five years ago. Why didn't Deidara live with them? Did he run away from home? So many questions filled his mind he had trouble thinking of an answer to give Deidara.

"I don't have embarrassing moments," he replied finally, pulling into small place on the side of the road to park the car and get out. He'd pulled right up to the guard rail so they could see the city below them. When he sat down on the hood of the car, the city laid out before him bigger then it looked from the ground, but smaller then one would picture from the ground. It was hard to decide on which to think on. From the ground you expect the city to be bigger then it is really, but it's always smaller. With the sun nearly down and the lights turning on below, the city looked bigger. Hundreds of tiny lights were springing up from the buildings, houses and streets below, unaware of the two teenagers watching them from the mountain side that shadowed them from the sun in the evening.

Deidara was climbing up onto the hood of the car next to him, folding his arms over his knees. In the dark Itachi looked like a ax murderer or a ghost – according to Sasuke at least. His skin was the only thing that would catch the moonlight. Deidara's pale features seemed to glow. Skin paler then his own illuminated by the moon and star light unhindered by the city lights far below. Itachi's fascination with his hair grew as he turned to look at him, catching the moonlight even better then his skin. A hand reached out to feel the sleek strands, so well kept by their owner who held still for Itachi while he played with his hair. His pale blue eyes were darker without the sun shining on them, but still bright and watching him from under his bangs.

Soon he wouldn't be able to see them every day. Soon he'd be going away to college and he'd have to leave Deidara behind. He'd finally gotten him to say yes to going out with him and it hadn't been when he was just high, he'd asked him when he was getting dressed and he muttered embarrassed that yes, he'd go out with him. Finally. But now he had to leave and Deidara would be here alone and who would take care of him if something like last night happened again? He had emailed the university board last night before bed, letting them know he had decided on their school and would be able to move in on the appointed day at the end of June. Not even a month left with him.

Itachi sighed in irritation, laying back on the windshield. "I'm going to be going away and you're going to go back to all your customers and I'm going to be buried in books, jealous over a bunch of old farts," he grumbled aloud.

"Oh please, you'll find some weirdo or something to date in college and forget all about me, un," Deidara said, rolling his eyes.

Itachi glanced over at him with an incredulous expression on his face. Forget him? How could anyone forget Deidara? "Maybe, but I only just got you to go out with me," Itachi said, reaching into his pocket to pull something out and drop in his lap. "So I got you this."

Deidara picked up the object in surprise, giving Itachi a startled expression as he looked it over. "...I already have a phone, un..." he told him, tilting his head to the side as he turned it in his hands. It was green. Had he known his favorite color was green before he'd gotten it or was it a total coincidence? Maybe Itachi was just good at guessing.

When Itachi didn't reply, Deidara looked up at him again for an answer, but Itachi didn't give him one, just kept smiling at him and waiting patiently. Itachi was always too patient. Patiently impatient. The one he had was cheap and he kept it barely stocked with minutes. This one looked brand new, a very dull yet appealing green and black flip phone with a small silver charm of a bird hanging from it. Aw. Opening it up, he examined the buttons, but a window popping up on the screen caught his attention.

**One Message Received**

His eyebrow raised in question as he read it. How could he have a message received when he just got the phone? He pushed the 'open' button and saw it was a video message on the screen with a 'Play' option. Curious, he pushed the button.

The screen turned black for a brief second before Itachi came on to the screen, sitting back against the wall of his room. He must have made it when he was sleeping.

"Hey," Itachi on the screen said. "You're sleeping now so sorry if I'm too quiet. Ahh... well we should be on the mountain now together and since you're watching this, I've given you this phone. With me being so far away, we wont get to see each other very much. This phone can do direct video with mine so if you want to talk or see me or anything, you can do it this way. You can also do like this and record yourself to send to me later." Itachi brushed his hair back off his face before continuing, "I.. I really will miss you... My life was pretty dull until you came." He glanced away from the screen a moment, towards the bed Deidara realized as he pictured the layout of his room, then smiled and got up to end the video.

Deidara was stunned into silence. Next to him, Itachi shifted a little uncomfortably while the blond stared at the screen. Deidara felt himself blushing and hoped Itachi couldn't see it in the darkness. Closing the phone slowly, he turned it around in his hands, still not sure of what to say. It must have cost a fortune to buy. Lots of people had bought him gifts wanting to be on his good side. In fact, it was Mr. Asshole, who he was never seeing again, who had bought him the motorcycle. They wanted him to like them so he would come back to be their whore. Itachi just wanted him to himself and visa versa. He wasn't going to take him in for a good fuck then go out with someone else later. Deidara didn't want Itachi to leave. Being untrustworthy himself and growing up with untrustworthy people, Deidara expected Itachi to be the same. He wanted him to himself and didn't want to share. The thought of Itachi being with someone else in college made him mad to think about. Law school was four years and Itachi had mentioned continuing his studies which meant even longer.

Deep in his thoughts, he didn't notice Itachi leaning over until his lips touched his softly. "Will you send me videos?" Itachi asked before kissing him.

"Yeah," Deidara replied. "And I'll visit, un."

"Don't skip school to do it."

"I wont," Deidara assured him with a smirk. "I want that Porsche, un."

He listened to Itachi snicker before leaning back with him to stare up at the stars. Itachi turned to face him, no longer interested in the stars. "Hey, Deidara?" he started. "You know all about my fucked up family... Why do you live with Daichi and not your family?"

Deidara stiffened against him. He'd been so relaxed and in a blink of an eye he was as tense. Very few knew about his family. He didn't want to tell anyone else. Daichi knew because he'd been there, Rin knew because Daichi knew. No one else knew. He didn't want to tell him. Itachi wouldn't understand. He couldn't even explain it to Daichi. Anyone but him couldn't understand because he couldn't put it into words. Normally he would have changed the subject, but... it was Itachi. And he was right. He did know everything about his messed up family.

"My mom... met my father in Germany and she came here wither him. They got married, yatta, yatta. Mom has a lot of sisters and cousins, big family and they all have kids. Lots of girls. Mom's always wanted a girl, but my father didn't want any kids at all. He just wanted Mom. And when they had me... they were both disappointed. Mom would even dress me up as a girl when we'd go visit her family back in Berlin. I mean... I was still a boy and all... she didn't know what to do with me cause she'd never been around boys before. Just adults. When I was ten, she ran out of things to do with me..." He turned onto his back to look up at the sky again. "She left me on a bench outside a café in the middle of downtown a couple blocks away from where the apartment is now... but she never came back. That was before Daichi met Rin... he was still drag racing back then," Deidara grinned a little. "Running from the cops by night, fixing cars during the day. He took me in..." A grin spread over his face despite the look of horror on Itachi's face. "Ran away four times... Daichi was such an asshole back then. But I stayed... here I am now, un."

Itachi was still staring at him in horror at his words when he finished. Struck speechless. Deidara sighed softly and laid back to look up intently at the stars. How could he explain that he still cared for his mother, despite what she did. He still wished he could please her and make her happy. Daichi thought he was daft. Rin felt sorry for him. His mother had let him go because he hadn't been good enough, but Deidara didn't know what it was he could have done otherwise. Itachi heard the tale and would hate his mother and father too, just like Daichi and Rin, but Deidara couldn't. The most painful rejection he'd ever felt and he couldn't be angry about it. Now she had the daughter she wanted and was happy. His sister didn't know he existed, but he could see her a few times from a distance before they moved so far away because of his mother's job.

"I'm... I don't know what to say," Itachi said finally, tearing his eyes away from Deidara to look down at the city.

"You don't have to, un," Deidara said with a shrug. "It's really not that big of a deal."

Yes it was. Deidara could see it was what Itachi wanted to say but kept inside his head as he looked down at him. Deidara wouldn't look at him until Itachi reached over to turn his head to face his. "I wont do that to you," Itachi told him.

Deidara gave a soft laugh and rest his head on Itachi's shoulders. It was a big promise to make to someone. His mother didn't want to hang onto him, why would someone he'd only just became friendly with hold on? Itachi saw his doubt and was unable to prove himself except to do so. Itachi told him that he fascinated him once. Well, he could understand that, he fascinated a lot of people. But when Itachi knew all there was to know, what would he do then? If he decided he was too complicated, too frustrating, would he leave? Was he worried about it?

It cause him to pause a moment in his thoughts. Was he worried about it? Was he worried Itachi would leave him for good? Decide that the people at law school were more interesting and smarter then he was and he was better off with them? Yes. Yes, he was and it angered him to think it. Deidara never let himself get close to people for this reason, now he felt stuck. Itachi wouldn't find someone more interesting and smarter then he was because Deidara would make sure he was far more interesting then anyone else and blow everyone's mind with how smart he was.

He could feel Itachi's fingers playing in his hair when his phone started to ring. Not his new one, but the one in his back pocket where Itachi's fingers were resting comfortably. When he didn't move to get it, Itachi pulled it out for him and opened it.

"Hello?" Itachi said into the phone, letting Deidara shift comfortably against him. "Hey, Daichi. Yeah, he's right here. No... What? Rin's at the hospital? Yeah, we'll be right there." Deidara started when he heard that, sitting up like someone had shocked him. Rin was in the hospital? "Rin's having her baby," Itachi told him, handing him back his phone.

"What?" Deidara gasped, jumping off the car's hood. "Where? We have to go, un!"

"I know," Itachi said with a short nod. Getting up off the car, he got into the driver's side and started the car again. He didn't know why – besides the fact that it was Rin and babies were very important, but he was willing to hurry. As they drove down the mountain side the way they had come. It was always easier to drive down then up, the slide into the corners was easy. He made them as sharp and dangerous as he could make them, hand braking and drifting into each hair pin turn. This was his mountain, he knew the road better then anyone he'd ever met. Deidara had mentioned wanting to see him drive on the mountain, but the blond seemed nervous and lost in thought. "What's wrong?" he asked as they drew closer to the bottom, a little put out that Deidara wasn't enjoying his driving.

"Rin had a miscarriage a little while ago, un," Deidara said, folding his arms as he stared out the window. "She was really sick afterwards for a while and Daichi was trying to help her, but he was really depressed too. It was horrible," he added, glancing at him as if to give more emphasis on his words.

"I can imagine..." Itachi said, staring at the road as he thought on it. Rin's face appeared in his head, so happy and cheerful and kind. The thought of her broken from a loss like that was horrible. Rin and Daichi together... hurt and depressed. He could see the way they looked at each other, the way Daichi would kiss Rin with a smile he only gave her, hand on her stomach with tenderly affection. To loose like that and try again. "How long ago?"

"Four years ago," Deidara replied. "Rin was in the hospital for six months... her baby died in her arms five minutes after she gave birth. Daichi was horrible. Now..." He swallowed a little and snuggled back into his seat.

The closer they got to the hospital, the more nervous Deidara seemed to become. Itachi could imagine how worried he was for him, but when they got to the parking lot, Deidara wouldn't move. Petrified to his seat like a statue staring at the dashboard, overcome with a fear that couldn't be worry.

"Deidara? We're here," he said, confusion littering his voice. Wondering why he wasn't moving.

"I know," Deidara said softly, unbuckling himself and opening the door to get out.

"What's the matter?" Itachi asked, wondering at the slow pace Deidara was putting them in as they approached the automatic glass doors, growing slower by the step.

"Nothing," Deidara said, voice an octave higher then normal.

They'd reached the doors, standing open to welcome them in, but they denied the doors, standing before them stopped as though commanded. The nothing was obviously something. Deidara was scared. No longer the fear for his friend's well being, though the turmoil was still there. Deidara was scared. A paranoia that stopped him from being with those that needed and wanted him there. Deidara had told him he hated hospitals, but he hadn't realized that he was honestly scared of them.

"Deidara..." Itachi said, stepping in front of him, blocking the nurse looking at them curiously from the desk, wondering if they were going to enter or stand there all day. "Deidara, it's okay." He reached out to take his hand. His fingers wrapped around Deidara's shaking ones, gently urging him inside.

Trembling like frightened child, Deidara stepped into the building, eyes squeezed shut. Ignoring the stares the two of them were getting from those sitting in the waiting room, Itachi led Deidara into the waiting room to the counter. Deidara was staring at the floor, still clutching Itachi's hand as the onyx haired teenager turned to glare at the woman trying not to laugh at him.

"Where's the delivery room?" Itachi demanded of her, angry at her mockery, however she tried to hide it. Seeing someone like her made him want to delve into her own deepest fears and make her live them for days on end just because she would mock other's fear.

"Third floor," the woman said with a grin. "The waiting room's on the left."

"Thank you," Itachi snapped at her, so sharply her smile disappeared from her face instantly. They were nearly to the elevator when Deidara stopped all together.

"I can't," he whispered in panic. "I can't, I can't, let me go, un!"

Itachi wasn't holding his hand tightly, he could have gotten away if he wanted to. "It's alright," he said softly. "It's alright, Deidara. I'm right here. Nothing's going to happen to you."

"I can't, I'm sorry, un," Deidara said, slowly sinking closer to the floor. "I can't, I can't... I'm sorry, please let me go."

Reaching down, Itachi lifted him up off the floor to carry him into the elevator. He never thought he'd see Deidara, the demon motorcycle racer, reduced to near tears in his arms as he pushed the button for the third floor. Deidara's arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, face buried in his chest. The ride was short, he stepped out of the elevator and looked down at him.

"I can take you home if you want," Itachi said to him, but Deidara was shaking his head.

"No... no, Daichi wanted me here, un," Deidara whimpered. "Daichi wanted me here, I can't go. Shit..."

They were getting even more stares now with Itachi still holding Deidara off the floor like a child, shushing him softly as they walked down the hallway to the door with the label for delivery. A few people went in and out, but it was no one they knew and Deidara still clung to him. Itachi patiently held him, waiting for him to calm down enough to tell him what he wanted to do. Itachi hadn't been to the hospital in a long time. Several months now. He felt so fortunate. He could see how the florescent lights and unnatural white walls would bring panic to someone. All the beeping and noises and rushing around and nurses smiling even when something bad happened. Doctors telling you they're sorry for something that happened, but they're not really sorry. How could someone be sorry when they don't even know you and probably couldn't care less. At least they got paid.

Deidara shifted slightly in his arms, letting Itachi finally put his feet back down on the ground, but clung to his hand tightly. Itachi led him into the room, glancing around at the strangely crowded waiting room. Deidara didn't notice the crowd because of his downcast eyes, intently staring at the tiles at his feet, but Itachi could see the majority of the people were those that worked at the garage. A few face he recognized from the apartment, but he didn't know them as well. Everyone was dead quiet from nerves, shifting around, reading a magazine. It wouldn't have looked so unnatural to someone who didn't know them, but Itachi hadn't ever seen them this quiet before. They all looked up to stare in wonder at the two of them, eyes wide. They were looking at Deidara not himself, shocked that the blond actually came into a hospital.

"Are you Deidara?" the nurse behind the counter asked, her caramel highlights pulled back off her face. Itachi glanced down at Deidara, watching him give the briefest of nods. "Mura-san is only allowing you back with them. They'd like you to join them."

People exchanged glances with each other. Even Itachi glanced down at Deidara then back at the woman. Had Daichi and Rin forgotten Deidara's fear of hospitals? Itachi had to carry him up to the hallway and they wanted him in the delivery room by himself? Deidara had a panicked expression, torn by fear and concern. Itachi gave his hand a squeeze and smiled reassuringly at him when he looked up.

"I'll be right out here," Itachi assured him out loud. "And Daichi's inside..." That wasn't much of an encouragement, especially with how Daichi had treated him the other night, but it was the only thing he could think of to say to him. Like a man walking to his death, Deidara let go of his hand and followed the nurse's gesture through the door to where she could lead him to the delivery room, the door behind him shutting with a foreboding thud.

White. White. White. White walls, white floors, white coats, white doors, white ceilings, white beds. Beep. Beep. Beep. Monitors tones sounding from rooms they passed were like the pulse of the hospital. If it stayed the same, never ending, never changing, it was good, but listening to them, you're waiting for a change. A frantic one. One that signals a problem. The sounds pounded in his head like a hammer even though he wasn't near them. The hallways were all straight. Jerking into ninety degree turns with no smoothness at all. Hallways like this were used to learn perspective drawings and vanishing points. Points that disappeared into the horizon. If you turned and looked the other way, it would be the same form of vanishing point, just with different settings on either side of the lines. The walls seemed to extend and stretch on themselves, making the ceiling appear to slowly sink down on his head, mounding pressure worse then the pounding hammer of the beeps. The florescent lights hurt his eyes, reflecting off all the ugly white that made you feel like you were in a haze. The combination of it all was making him dizzy, frantic, he felt off balance like his ears were full of water and he couldn't hear. His equilibrium thrown off so much by his panic he nearly fell over to be crushed by the rushing sounds in his ears when a voice broke through it, making the sounds disappear, leaving behind only the steady mechanical beat of life.

"Deidara-san?" the nurse said, a curious but still trying to be pleasant smile on her face as she looked at him. "This is the room, would you like to go inside?"

No. "Sure," he said instead with an unsteady voice. He watched the woman knock softly then open the door, smiling widely at the occupants then moved aside to let Deidara in.

"...Deidara..." Daichi said in amazement, rising slightly from his seat next to the hospital bed Rin laid on. He had called to ask him to come, but hadn't expected him to actually do it.

"Deichan, you came," Rin said softly, forehead shiny with sweat. "Even though you were scared?"

"I'm still scared, un," he admitted quietly as he walked over towards the bed

Very scared. The white walls were irritating, the white sheets were given a break in his mind because Rin was laying in them. There were instruments he had no clue what were for and what they would be used for. The doctors and nurse came in several times to check on Rin, asking if she wanted pain killers and measuring her contractions. Rin told them, much to Deidara's wide eyed horror that she didn't want any pain killers. She wanted as natural a birth as possible. Even though it would be excruciatingly painful. Even though an unnatural birth would bring the child's chances of survival up. Rin couldn't and wouldn't go against her lifestyle.

This was one of those times that Deidara was thankful that he had an extra appendage in his pants. It meant that no baby was coming out of him, for which he was very thankful.

* * *

R&R


	15. Chapter 15

**Twilight chapter 15**

**Chapter 15**

!!!!PLEASE NOTE!!!!

This chapter has had moments CUT from it so that it is still okay for the younger ages.

If you want to read it, you need a Livejournal account and friend my writing LJ, Artisticallyset, because it will not be posted anywhere else.

Sorry, rules n stuff :3

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There is a difference between dislike and fear. When one says they have a fear of spiders, but are willing to calmly smash one if it crawls close to them, they don't have a fear, just an extreme dislike of spiders. A fear of spiders would produce different results that vary from person to person. A fear is different from paranoia. There are many levels of fear and even many more definitions of the word. Fifteen to be exact, at least in the Doubleday Dictionary.

Itachi didn't have a fear of spiders, nor did he have a fear of the dark or water or a fear of organization. However impossible that sounds, it is indeed possible. Itachi didn't think he was afraid of anything and he certainly wasn't afraid of hospitals or organization for that matter. What he was was irritated. He was neat, but not obsessed with it, but the fact that the wallpaper was exactly aligned to the very centimeter and the picture frames were exactly ten and a half inches apart from each other and the magazines were arranged chronologically by name, perfectly set in the shelf were beginning to drive him insane.

Of the ten people crowding in the small waiting room, none of them were talking. A few were on cell phones texting, some reading the magazines, but most were just staring into space, lost in thought. He didn't know much about childbirth except that it was supposed to be one of the most painful things anyone could experience. Because of Rin's previous child, everyone was nervous about the whole thing. Very few of them had been close to the Mura's at the time of Rin's first pregnancy, but now they were all such good friends. Like Itachi, no one wanted to see Daichi or Rin go through the loss of yet another child.

They were in the waiting room for three hours now. No one had said a word to each other yet, not one looked towards the door to try and hide the fact that they were worried. He wondered how Deidara was doing, stuck in the room by his own friends to experience something so frightening as childbirth in a place he was terrified of. He wished he could go into the room, but he wasn't allowed. He wanted to comfort the blond, but he couldn't.

He could see that their silent presence was beginning to make the nurse behind the counter nervous. She kept fidgeting and searching for something to do; she even got up several times an hour to get another drink from the filter in the hallway. A pity not everyone could sit patiently like he could.

The door opened suddenly, letting Deidara step out of the room whiter then a sheet of paper as he walked passed the nurses's desk and out into the waiting room as everyone jumped up to stare at him, wide eyed to hear some news. None was given as Deidara sat shaken next to Itachi, pushing his hands over his face and through his hair. Itachi was staring at him too, wanting news, but Deidara said nothing, causing their worries to escalate until the door opened again and Daichi came out, holding a tiny bundle in his arms.

"My daughter," he said, holding her so they could see the tiny face in the blankets, but close enough to keep her safe and secure like a tiny glass ball that would break with the wrong touch.

Instant babble broke out from the onlookers. Congratulations, sighs of relief, questions and comments flew at the mechanic before Deidara's voice cut through them. "Shut up, she's sleeping," he snapped at them, getting up and hurrying out the door, unable to stand it anymore.

Daichi smiled after him fondly as he looked to the shutting door then at Itachi. His black pits of eyes were smiling at him as wide as his mouth as Itachi gave a half smile. "How's Rin?" Itachi asked.

"Tired, but fine," Daichi told him.

"Mura-san, we have to go back in the room now," the nurse who followed him out said.

"Tell Deidara I said thanks," Daichi said, grinning back at Itachi as he followed the nurse in.

Turning, Itachi brushed passed the excitedly chatting people to follow Deidara's path. They'd only seen one way out of the hospital and he knew Deidara wasn't going to waste time searching for another one. At the ding of the elevator, Itachi walked out with his hands in his pockets, ignoring the nurse at the desk who recognized him and seemed to know exactly who he was looking for. He was definitely going to talk to her supervisor. Honestly. Deidara was easy to spot in his camouflage pants and black shirt, blond hair sliding over his shoulder to block the source of the long wispy tentrals of smoke rising from him. He was sitting against one of the collumns holding up the canopy the front of the hospital, right under a sign that said 'No Smoking'. Only Deidara.

"Hey," Itachi said, sitting down next to him and reached over to pat his thigh softly.

"That was the single most frightening thing I've ever done, un," Deidara informed him, letting him use his cigarette to light his own.

"Oh, I have no doubt," Itachi told him, grinning slightly. "Daichi said to say thanks. That was really cool of you to go in there even though you were scared."

"Rin and Daichi are my friends," Deidara said, cheeks puffed out in his defense at the compliment. He was sure they'd do the same for him. He owed them a lot for all they'd done for him. The least he could do was be there when they needed him.

Itachi slid his arm around Deidara's shoulders, rubbing his shoulder softly as he drew him closer to him. Friends. Itachi hadn't had a good friend in a long time. The closest he had to one was his cousin, but they were constantly at competition with each other because of their family. Other then that people bored him. People wanted things from him he didn't want to give. Deidara never asked anything from him without giving back some how in return. It was always subtle or unexpected like spending the night with him when he was stuck in bed. He remembered a book he had been forced to read in first grade that had been way to easy for his advanced reading skills. He couldn't remember anything except for one line: 'friend ends with e-n-d'. End. It was a depressing thought to remember how to spell a word, but it was true. He'd seen friendships end all through his life. Twenty years and his first friendship felt like it was going to be over in just a few weeks. He'd leave and Deidara would find some rich asshole to take care of him. He had no reason to be faithful to him. Yes, he'd like him to be, but why would he? School was four plus years long. How could he expect Deidara to be so patient?

He didn't want to let these thoughts cloud over them now. He'd at least let the last few weeks be happy and not so depressing. "Hey Deidara?"

"Hm?" the blond stirred from his comfortable drifting to look up at him.

"Will you send me your senior picture when you get them?" he asked.

The expression on Deidara's face said a big fat 'no'. "Why? I hate school pictures and seniors have to wear those stupid nice shirts, un. And... ugh!" Itachi watched him slump his upper half onto his lap, puffing out a stream of smoke from his lips. "You really want one?"

"Well, you don't have to... I just think it'd be nice to have on of you, since I only have a few pictures of you. Plus, I've never seen you dressed up before," Itachi said with a shrug.

"Fine, I'll get you one, un!" he said with an aggravated sigh as though Itachi had been badgering him about it.

"You don't have—"

"No, I want to, un!" he snapped again.

Itachi couldn't resist a roll of his eyes. Deidara was so cute in the most obnoxious way possible. Itachi still had trouble understanding his moods and reactions most of the time, but this kind of thing he knew well. Deidara wanted to do something for him, but didn't want it to be so obvious that he was willing. He was like a pet, just wanting praise without looking like he'd done anything. Itachi gave it to him with a hug and a kiss on the top of his head. He felt Deidara smile against his leg. So easy to please.

"Do you want to go back home? It's really late," Deidara asked, rolling over to look up at him with his cigarette hand dropped over his head to keep ashes off Itachi's cloths. Oh, Deidara, did you know how hot you look when you pose like that? He probably did know and was doing it on purpose to make Itachi nuts.

"Sure," Itachi said, flicking his finished cigarette away. "I'll go tell Daichi we're going. You can start the car," he added, surrendering the keys to his precious baby to Deidara's stomach.

"Can I drive?"

"No," Itachi told him just a perky as Deidara's question. He smirked as Deidara pouted and rolled off him to crawl away, giving Itachi a clear shot at a smack to his butt. Grinning back at Itachi, Deidara jumped up and darted off to find the Mazda in the parking lot while Itachi disappeared.

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Graduate.

Honors.

Awards.

Valedictorian.

Full scholarship to stop school of law in Japan.

He listened to the principle rallying off his high school achievements to the large crowd sitting in the auditorium.

The last graduation Itachi had been to was his cousin's two years before. Shisui had been valedictorian as well. He remembered how everyone clapped politely as he walked across the stage to shake the principles hand and give his speech. Fugaku had given his uncle an approving and congradulating expression then had given Itachi another. He would expect nothing less then that. Nothing less but more. The uchiha's were always working hard to be better then everyone, but there was an inside war between the adults in the family. Always competeing. Always polite, but trying to one up each other. Fugaku had always pushedItachi to be better then Shisui, who's father pushed him to be better then Noriko, who's father pushed her to be better then Maki and so on and so forth. It was rather ironic that Fugaku couldn't be here to see him graduate with just a little more then Shisui had. Shisui had special art honors, but Itachi had the sports awards. Now Fugaku was in jail with a restraining order that kept him a hundred feet away from the house and school, as well as the college Itachi would be attending. Mikoto had been very thorough to make sure there'd be no loop holes her ex-husband would find to come near her sons.

The Uchiha's were here tonight, always polite to praise one another for being better then anyone, but also for the parents to see what their child had to do to get better. There had to be a limit to achievements, but they were determined to go beyond them. As he walked across the stage, they clapped politely, just as they had with Shisui.

Another sound caught his attention, drawing his eyes from the podium he was approaching to the crowd.

One more thing he had that Shisui hadn't.

On the right side of the auditorium was a group of people that had jumped up to cheer for him. Daichi, Rin, baby Suki and all the others from the garage and some from the Racing Lot were clapping, cheering and calling out to him with Mikoto, Sasuke and Deidara. He did a double take on Deidara. Was he dressed up? Wow, he was. Nothing fancy, but Itachi had never seen him in a button down before. He had been trying to not look bored with the whole thing and now he was trying not to grin like an idiot. It was hard. Especially when the Uchihas were turning to give the group looks of surprise and distaste. Itachi could hear their thoughts like a ghost of his own 'this is an award ceremony not a basketball game!' Not six months ago he would have thought the same thing, but now it made him smile with happiness to see his friends here to cheer him on even though everyone knew he'd do well. He spotted Shisui with the Uchiha's grinning with the amused grin Itachi was trying to hide as he watched the group then turned back to look up at Itachi.

After he gave his speech which had been practiced and perfected in front of Deidara who made sure it wouldn't be 'so damn boring', the principle said a few words that were supposed to be inspirational, but sounded more cheesy then anything else. Then the seniors erupted into cheers, tossing their hats and hugging each other. Itachi hugged no one but his mother who gave him lots of kisses as well despite his sputtering protests and Deidara who approached him with a lopsided smirk, hands shoved into his pants pocket. Pants. Not Jeans, he noted.

The other Uchihas would have a fit, but he still slid his arms around Deidara's waist and kissed him. "You look so good," he told him, rubbing his cheek against him as he took a quiet inhale. Smelled good too.

"You don't, un," Deidara informed him, glancing at his robe and hat which he hadn't thrown. "What the hell is this?"

"A tassle," Itachi said, rolling his eyes as he bat his hands away from the dangling object.

"Whatever," Deidara said, rolling his eyes back at him. "Come on, lets go."

"Where?" Itachi asked, letting the blond tug him towards the doors. He noticed Shisui trying to come through the crowd to him, but Deidara already had him out the door.

"Party!" Deidara informed him, nudging him towards the black bike handing him the spare helmet.

Oh, shit. He hadn't driven with Deidara yet on his bike like he'd promised he'd do 'after school one day'. Of course Deidara would remember that little detail. Now it was night time and he'dbe completely blind to the road, the speed. Blind to the surity of death. He looked at Deidara's wide smile, how he'd gotten dressed up to look nice for him. How could he resist?

Taking off the robe and hat, he stuck them in Deidara's bag and pulled the helmet on, making sure it was tight and secure on his head then climbed onto the back of the bike behind Deidara. "Hmm... I could get use to this," he commented, sliding his arms around Deidara's waist, leaning forward against his back as Deidara stood the bike upright, kicking it in gear.

He felt rather then heard Deidara snickering as he shifted it into gear and pulled out of his parking spot. He tried to remain as relaxed as he could while clinging to him tightly. Maybe it just looked scary from the sidelines or Deidara was just going easy on him as they went once around the parking lot. Either way, he still held onto him tightly, hoping and praying that he wouldn't fall off and die before he got to college.

Deidara stopped in front of Mikoto as everyone was exiting the school building. Pushing up his visor, he grinned at their group. "We're going to the party, un," Deidara told them, then gave Mikoto a remembered glance. He forgot he should ask permission before taking Itachi away, but she smiled and told them to have fun. Itachi thought he heard Shisui calling out his name, but at Mikoto's permission, Deidara peeled away from the curb where he'd stopped. Yelping, Itachi clung tightly to Deidara as they sped out of the parking lot and onto the street.

"You sure about this?" Deidara asked when they were finally on solid ground again, sitting next to each other with their stools turned to face one another. The club was noisy around them, music playing, people talking and laughing, but Deidara and Itachi were sitting at the bar with an extensive amount of filled shot glasses between them, staring each other down with smirks.

He watched Itachi pick up the first shot in a mock toast gesture. "Just make sure I get home in one piece," he told him.

Laughing, Deidara picked up his own first shot and tapped it lightly against the other's before tipping the shot back to wash the bitter liquid down his throat. Itachi did the same, slamming the glass down as Deidara did. Being use to the taste of raw alcohol, Itachi's slight shudder made Deidara snicker softly. They repeated two more each, glaring at each other with amused smirks. Competitive? Of course not. Deidara knew Itachi had no chance of beating him at a drinking contest, but it would be fun to see how many he could really take.

Probably not much more, as he watched Itachi sway a little at their sixth shot. "Dance with me?" Deidara asked, sliding his hands over Itachi's thigh as he pouted hopefully at him.

Itachi just scoffed at him. "It'll take more then these to get me on the dance floor," he told Deidara, but the blond wouldn't have it.

Getting up, Deidara slid passed him while making sure his body brushed against him as he moved between their stools to get onto the floor. Turning to face Itachi so he could be sure he was watching him, Deidara began to dance alone to the music as he backed away from the counter. He hid a grin when he saw Itachi pointedly staring at him. Deidara could practically see his hand wanting to reach up to touch him even though he was too far away, but he seemed to be resisting. Well that was no fun. Stepping further into the mass of dancers with people moving in front of him blocking his view got Itachi to his feet, following him to grab onto his swaying hips. He was glaring at someone over Deidara's shoulder who'd been trying to latch onto Deidara as well. Itachi pulled him close, away from the others to claim him for himself.

"You don't want me to dance?" Deidara asked.

"Not with anyone else," Itachi growled as Deidara wrapped his arms around his waist to slide into his back pockets.

"Dance with me then, un," Deidara told him. Itachi froze, seeming to realize how he'd fallen for Deidara's trap. Everyone did, it wasn't like Itachi had a choice in that factor. Deidara heard him muttering darkly, but didn't bother trying to make out the words. He'd like dancing by the time he was finished with him. "Just relax, un," he murmured in his ear.

Using his hands in his pockets as a grip, he began swaying with Itachi, forcing his hips to move without the rest of his body. It was hard, Itachi was stone straight until Deidara slid a hand out to grab further under the curve of his ass then should be allowed in public. The Uchiha gave him a reproachful look but Deidara just grinned deviously at him, releasing him to bring Itachi's hands to his waist. When they were where he wanted them to be, he raised his arms up and began dancing again in Itachi's grasp.

His dancing partner didn't seem to be able to do anything but stare at him with his hands still on his moving hips. Deidara wanted to laugh at him and wonder how he expected to survive in the world without being able to dance, but he didn't. Instead he turned to face away from Itachi, leaning back to press up against him and moved his hands to his stomach, moving them around his abdomen to let him know he could do what he wanted with his hands as he rocked his body against Itachi. He heard him groan softly behind him in an octive higher then normal as he slid his body up his to stand on his toes.

Turning to face him he slid his leg around Itachi's, forcing the Uchiha's hands off his waist to hold, pulling him into a jerky dance. Itachi expression never changed no matter what he did, which bothered the blond a lot. He couldn't tell if he was having fun or not... or if he even liked it. Well, he could tell he liked it. That was quite obvious every time his hips brushed against Itachi's.

"Itachi," he whined, pouting at him. "If you're not going to dance with me, I'll dance with someone else, un."

"No," Itachi said defiantly, gripping him tightly to keep him against him, away from the other's again. "I'm hot."

Before he could protest, Itachi dragged him back to the bar, sitting back down again. Deidara glared at him for ruining his dancing fun, but Itachi dragged him onto his lap, surprising him. The Uchiha gave no explanation to the motion, just drank back more shots. Turning in his lap, Deidara picked one up himself and poured it into his mouth then leaned up to kiss Itachi, pushing the liquid between their mouths with his tongue.

"Itachi you're so tense, why don't you relax, un?" he asked, pouting at him.

Itachi glanced away from him, face tinted red, but Deidara couldn't tell if it was from the alcohol or embarrassment. "I can't," he replied, downing another.

"Sure you can," Deidara told him, swinging a leg over Itach's to press up against him. "It'll feel really good, un. Just relax."

Itachi closed his eyes and gripped onto Deidara's hips to keep him still. "Dei..." he whined softly.

"Don't worry, we'll have lots of fun tonight," Deidara told him, kissing into his neck. "Just dance with me a bit tonight okay? I dance on th table tops for you if you do, un."

"Ha!" Itachi scoffed, glancing away as he picked up another drink. "And fall on your face from drinking too much."

Itachi was swaying a bit himself on the stool as he spoke so Deidara didn't know why he was telling him off for drinking too much. Finally, Deidara slid off his lap, threatening to go dance with someone else if Itachi wasn't going too. The ebony haired man didn't like that at all, jumping up after him and proclaiming loudly that he would dance with him. He drank another shot and hurried after him, glaring at anyone who came closer to the blond then he deemed necessary, trying hard to dance with him so he wouldn't complain about him not.

With the alcohol under his belt finally starting to take an obvious effect, it only took a little bit of pushing to get Itachi to dance with him loosely. The neon strobe lights were making Deidara a little disoriented, but he let that become part of his movement. He loved to dance. It was one of the freest forms of expression he'd ever seen or felt. The music set a new rhythm in him his body couldn't resist. Even his heart seemed to begin pulsing to the over bass the speakers. Itachi moved with him now, restricting his movement with arms around him when someone dancing alone tried to dance with them. When an odd beat came on, they giggled and moved as strangely as the beat, swinging their clasped hands together as they cheered the DJ on. Rushing back to the bar they called for more drinks, but the bar tender wagged a finger at his blond regular and told him he'd reached the limit he'd allow him to drink being underage and all.

Glaring at the bartender, Deidara turned to face Itachi and kissed him with roaming hands. "Watch me, un," he told him climbing up on the counter, earning an unheard groan from the bartender.

Walking along the counter to where the tables were, Deidara jumped over to one and spun around to face Itachi's direction. Several people cheered for him as he began to dance on the table top. Everyone's eyes were on him, but none of them were as intent as Itachi's. The crimson eyes that looked like large black orbs from where he was were just staring at him like a teenager getting his first lap dance and didn't know what to do but stare. People were calling out for him to strip as Deidara let his hands slide slowly over his body, purring to himself though no one could hear. Itachi licked his lips in anticipation. Did he forget he was in public with other people around? Not that Deidara really cared, but he didn't think Itachi was that drunk yet. With slow pointed movements, he unbuttoned his shirt, starting from the top to work his way down his torso. His pale skin glowed blue and red from the club's lights. People cheered louder, demanding more, but Deidara's eyes were only on Itachi, smiling slyly at him as he moved his hands towards his pants.

"Come on, Awai. You know we don't let you do that," a man said in his ear, lifting him off the table with several boos from the crowd.

Deidara felt like booing too. Stupid bouncer. "You know you liked it too, un," he accused.

"No, I didn't. Where am I dropping you?"

"The handsome gapping fish at the bar, un," Deidaa told him, letting himself be carried over to Itachi, sliding onto his lap. Itachi's hands instantly went for his exposed torso the moment he was within reach, feeling the softness of his skin. "Hmm...? You like?" he questioned playing with Itachi's hair.

Itachi replied with a groan, tucking his nose into the curve of Deidara's neck. He didn't have to say anything, Deidara could feel how much he enjoyed it: A lot.

"What do you say we go back home and I can finish my dance for you... in private, un?" Deidara asked, running his tongue up his neck to his ear where he nibbled softly on his lobe.

"Yes," Itachi gasped, gripping onto him tighter.

Deidara had driven drunk before, even with a passenger behind him. However, he'd never driven drunk with a new drunk and a new passenger before. It was very educational for him and he wasn't going to let Itachi drink that much ever again if they were riding. Deidara didn't think of this until later the next day, but they should have taken a cab instead.

"Dei, you're a horrible driver," Itachi commented as he flopped quite ungracefully off the bike.

"Nuh-uh, you're just a horrible rider, un!" Deidara corrected him as he parked his bike behind the apartment building that had been closer then any of their other houses.

Sneaking in through the back, they noisily climbed up the stairs, Itachi making grabs at Deidara's ass while the blond skirted around to avoid the grabbing hands. Finally Itachi managed to to grab him well enough to sling him over his shoulder to carry him the rest of the way as Daichi and Rin walked out of one of the kid's rooms. Deidara grinned sheepishly from over Itachi's shoulders, but Itachi smirked proudly.

"I'm fucked up drunk," he announced.

Rin and Deidara both snorted out a laugh as Daichi just raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Don't go through the floor," he told them as he led Rin down the stairs.

"Ha! You're just jealous cause you know we do it better then you, un!" Deidara called after them.

Daichi paused and glanced back at them, putting an arm around Rin's waist. "Keep telling yourself that," he said, Rin giggling behind her hand as he led her down the stairs to go back to their house.

Deidara snickered as Itachi carried him the rest of the way to Deidara's room. Shutting and locking the door behind them, Itachi tossed him on the bed and practically pounced on top of him, the two of them snickering and giggling to themselves.

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Itachi woke up the next morning knowing something wasn't right with his body. It took him several moment before he remembered the drinks from the night before. Headache. The start of a headache was what was waiting for him. As well as an incredibly full bladder. Either he could hold it back in agony or he could deal with the headache and relieve himself. He chose to relieve himself. Rolling of the mattress, he crawled over to the bathroom to try to avoid the onslaught of the headache. After washing his hands he began to slowly massage his temples to try and help his aching head. Good thing Deidara's room faced sun set not sun rise.

Speaking of...

Deidara was still asleep on the bed when he came back into the room. With a twinge of guilt he realized he was still tied to the dresser's legs at the head of the bed. God, had he done that? That had to be an uncomfortable position. Crawling back to the bed, Itachi settled against his bruised and bitten sleeping beauty, fingers trailing over his back to his side, over his ass then down lower to grip his now limp member stroking it slightly as he laid his head down again, smiling as he remembered the night before.

The blond stirred as he played with him, groaning softly with a restricted shift of his body. "You're a pervert even in your sleep, un," came the sleepy mumble from the pillow.

"I'm awake."

"Then you're just a pervert, period, un." Deidara told him turning his head to face him.

"I can't help it when you're so sexy tied up like that. All helpless and vulnerable," Itachi said, reaching up to pull Deidara's hair off his face so he could see him as he nibbled on his shoulder.

"You're the vulnerable one, un," Deidara said. "I bet you have the worst headache you've ever had right now, un."

"Touché," Itachi mumbled, reaching up to untie him. Helping Deidara roll over, he pulled him up close against him and held him tight. "Sorry if I hurt you last night. I had fun dancing though."

"I did too," Deidara told him, rubbing his wrists as he nestled against Itachi's warm skin. "Don't worry about it."

Itachi sighed softly and relaxed against him He could hear the unspoken part of that statement: he's had worse. He didn't like that others got to do things to Deidara. He gotten possessive of him without realizing it. He was his friend, his boyfriend, his source of sanity...

"Itachi, what's wrong?"

"I'm going to miss you," Itachi told him, clinging to him tighter to emphasis the fact. 'I'm going to spend my whole time wondering what he's doing and if he's with anyone,' he realized to himself with a sigh.

"I'll miss you too, un," Deidara told him with a smile. "I'm going to harass you with that phone so much you're going to want to smack me when I visit, un."

Itachi smiled happily at his words, kissing him softly. Seven months since they met. Three months spent with near constant contact when he was hurt. Four years with barely a few hours of seeing each other a month. He couldn't believe he let Deidara talk him into a school so far away. Deidara didn't have the gas money to visit him a lot, so he couldn't count on that no matter how much they wanted to see each other.

"My head hurts," Itachi mumbled softly, tucking his face into the curve of Deidara's neck. "I think you need to invest in curtains."

Deidara chuckled softly and pulled the blankets over their heads again. "You learn to make do, un," he whispered softly to him under the darkness of the blanket.

Reaching up, Itachi brushed Deidara's cheek softly as he held him, letting his hand feel over his body. He was reminding himself of how Deidara's body felt, each dip, each curve. He knew him by heart, but just to make sure he wasn't kidding himself. Deidara held still for him as his hands explored, feeling over the nap of his neck then down his back to feel the old scars he'd shown him months ago, the indents of the story yet to be told.

"Hey, Deidara?" Itachi murmured. Deidara made a questioning noise, his throat vibrating with it against Itachi's cheek. "How'd you get these scars?" he indicated which ones he meant, sliding his fingers along the small caverns and rises of skin.

"Mmmm...." Deidara murmured softly against him then shrugged a little. "I went to the movies once, made a deal with the guy on shift working in the projection room to watch from there for free. I was really high... The movie was Peter Pan, some version of it, I don't remember which, but afterwards I went out and climbed up on top of a building. I was so high I figured that the shit I snorted was like pixie dust and I could fly..."

Itachi swallowed, picturing it in his head. He'd never used drugs before, and hearing that it would impare your thoughts so much that you'd think you could fly off the top of a building and go to a place like Neverland. He was never touching drugs and he wished Deidara would never touch them again either, but he knew that was a little bit harder them himself not touching them. Deidara was getting better, Daichi told him several times. Deidara didn't like using drugs around Itachi and since he was around Itachi a lot it was doing him some good.

"You jumped off?" Itachi asked in a soft whisper. More of Daichi's words came back to him, remembering the first time he'd seen Deidara race, so reckless, so fearless. 'Deidara thought himself invincible because nothing had killed him yet. Not even jumping off a building.'

"I landed on a barb wire fence, un," Deidara murmured quietly, but he felt Deidara grinning after a moment. "But I'm fine now. Kinda put me off Peter Pan for a while though, un." Itachi started to say something, but Deidara shifted around a little to kiss him softly, whispering him to not worry about it and go to sleep. After a bit of grumbling, Itachi let his mind stop thinking about it. It would only make his head hurt worse and he needed sleep. No sense in worrying about him, he was obviously fine except for the marks left behind.

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R&R


	16. Chapter 16

**Twilight Chapter 16**

Chapter 16

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Pack and kisses. Pack and lecture. Pack and advice. God he wished he could just pack with out the other stuff involved. It was making the whole situation because he kept having to pause to listen. He loved his mother. He really did, but did she really thing that he would forget to do his laundry at college? Forget to check expiration dates before buying food and drinks? Just because his mother had done nearly everything for him didn't mean he didn't know how to take care of himself. He could even cook a little. Well... ramen, peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese, tuna sandwiches and rice. But you could live off that stuff. And he did know what was healthy for him. She had been trying to give him healthy recipes until Itachi finally pointed out to her that the school had a cafeteria and he would be getting his meals there for the most part. Mikoto settled down about the food issue for a while before she started talking about sending things that he could make himself in his room in cause he didn't have time to go down to the cafeteria. How thankful Itachi was to Sasuke. The only addition he made to his packing was a few video games he was 'graciously' lending him to play if he was bored. Video games and an inquiry of whether or not he could have his room while he was gone.

No, Sasuke. You can't have my room.

That had gotten the video game offer retracted, but Itachi didn't play video games and had little to complain about less things to take.

They had all gotten up early to help Itachi finish his last minute packing before he was to leave after lunch. Mikoto had a friend of hers drive his boxes to the school in their truck so Itachi could drive his precious Mazda without being concerned about over working it. The last box in the truck and off it went. Itachi only had to say his good byes and he could go. Well... almost. He still had one more thing to do, but he needed someone else here... someone who was absent.

Itachi was sure Deidara had slept in, and if he had then he didn't want to wake him up by calling him. Maybe he was just as bad with goodbyes as Itachi was. If that was the case, he understood. Understood, but it made him sad. He wanted to see him one last time before he left. Despite Deidara assuring him how much he would harass him over the phone and come visit, it was still a long time to be away.

Thumb hovering over the green tinted Call button with Deidara's number dialed, Itachi debated with himself on whether to call or not. His room was nearly empty, just a few things left behind that made it his room. He wouldn't need his collection of mystery and thriller books that overfilled his two bookcases, nor the trinkets that decorated the shelves. He was taking his laptop to school, so his desktop computer was still sitting on his desk – he never understood why he needed two, but they had both been gifts. His closet had some clothes still left that he never wore as well as shoes. His mother had bought fresh sheets and comforters for him to take so his bed was still made, though it was lacking in pillows. The only other thing that was out of place was the medium size cardboard box next to him on the bed. He glanced over at it wondering if he should just go over to visit Deidara anyway when Sasuke knocked on his door frame.

"Hey, Mom says to come down for lunch," he said, jerking his head to the side to indicate downstairs.

"Alright," Itachi murmured with a sigh, closing his phone without calling the blond and followed his younger brother down the stairs.

At the bottom, he was startled to see that there were more people down in the living room then there should have been. Several cheered and congratulated him, thumping him on his back while the others waited patiently for the onslaught to be over. It seemed as though the entire garage had come over, even a few from the races that weren't part of Daichi's group were there.

"Thought you'd get away?" Daichi questioned when he could finally get over to him, shaking his hand firmly.

"You're the fastest in the city," Itachi reminded him with a grin. "I did think that I'd at least out run the rest of you."

Several people laughed and began shoving gifts into his hands. Cards, bags and boxes to take with him. His Mazda wouldn't run as light as he'd hoped. Oh well. He wasn't going to turn down presents from his friends. Real friends. He might not know them all by name, but he'd enjoyed himself with them. Racing, working on cars, playing games, eating with. Deidara had been the reason why he'd gone to any of the gatherings, but he wouldn't deny he had had fun with all of them.

Mikoto had prepared a buffet of food for everyone to eat, obviously prepared for the party. Someone had gone behind his back, but Itachi didn't say anything. He just piled his plate with the rest of them and followed the crowd to sit in the living room. Sasuke looked pathetic surrounded by the girls dressed in their too short skirts and too low pants. Playfully scuffing his brother's hair to embarrass him Itachi smirked and warned the girls that his brother was underage.

Finding a seat on the sofa with Daichi and Rin, Itachi gave a glance around the party at everyone who came. Rin had baby Suki in one arm while Daichi held her plate on his lap. They laughed as Rin tried juggling both the baby and her fork, ending in letting Daichi feed her instead. Itachi gave them both a half smile over his salad.

"Did he say anything?" he asked quietly, trying to keep the hope from his voice. By the instant drop of their smiles he knew what the answer would be before it was given.

"No, sorry," Rin said, giving him a sad look as she shook his head.

"He's never done something like this before," Daichi added with a slight shrug. "I can't say if he'll catch you before you go or not."

"It's alright," Itachi said with his own shrug. "I wouldn't expect him to do something he wasn't comfortable with, but could you do something for me, Daichi?" He leaned over to whisper in his ear, Rin curiously leaning in to listen as well. Her pretty face lit up in a smile as Daichi nodded, agreeing to do what he'd asked. It made Itachi feel a little more at ease and relaxed about the party. He stayed longer then he intended to, eating and talking with everyone, watching the girls flirt with Sasuke who looked more embarrassed at the older women's attention then he'd ever seen him. Itachi didn't think even he had ever made him look so embarrassed and pleased with himself at the same time as the girls fought over Sasuke's phone to put their numbers into his address book.

After finally saying his last good byes, taking all his new presents which were to be opened when he was settled in his dorm, he walked out of the house to go on his way. He was relieved to get out of the house with everyone wanting to talk to him at once and he was pretty sure he'd eaten enough for two meals. Mikoto was sure he would starve at school. But now he was out and on his way... except that a new blocker stood in his departing path, but this one he would never be upset for seeing.

"Deidara," he said, sighing in relief he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He had wanted to see him. Badly. But he didn't want to force him into anything.

But he didn't have too. Deidara was sitting on the hood of his car, fidgeting as he waited for him. A smile flashed over his face when he came out, giving him a tiny wave with a barely raised hand. Shy. Deidara was so cute when he got shy about something. "Took you long enough," he said quietly.

Itachi had the sudden urge to run over and hug him, but with his arms full of presents it was a little awkward. "I had to battle monsters to get out here," Itachi informed him, putting the presents into the boot of his car so he could come around to face him, giving him the hug he'd wanted earlier. "I didn't think you would come."

"Yeah, well, I didn't think I would either, un," Deidara said, hugging him back tightly when he came in reach. "But I wanted to see you before you went."

Itachi smiled down at him and moved to sit next to him. Sliding his arm around Deidara's shoulders, he pulled him close and kissed his forehead sweetly. His hair was damp, he noted in surprise. Deidara always blew his hair dry. His clothes looked thrown on in a hurry, jeans and a t shirt. No belt, no side bag – Itachi had never seen Deidara without his side bag of things, no wallet. He'd left where ever he was staying in such a hurry, he'd forgotten essentials he rarely went without. It was almost touching.

"I got you a present," Itachi told him in a soft voice, the touch of gratefulness from his rush slipped into his voice. Deidara looked up at him with his chin resting on his shoulder, blue eyes wide to show his curiosity in silence. "I was going to have Daichi give it to you, but I'd rather give it to you myself."

Getting up, Itachi hurried inside, ignoring the startled looks of the people who were still standing around eating and talking, and mounted the stairs to his room. Picking up the cardboard box, he descended to the first floor again, much more careful this time. He gave them all a half smile and told Daichi, "never mind", as he went out the door again. Deidara was still sitting where he'd been left, fingers laced over his knees as he watched him approach. Handing the box to the blond, he sat down next to him once more.

"I found it on my run last night," Itachi told him. "I thought maybe you'd like some company while I'm gone."

With a frown of utter confusion, Deidara sat the box carefully into his lap and opened it. Eyes widening at the content that stared back at him with mismatched eyes, he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Reaching inside to touch the body belonging to the eyes, his fingers met the softest black fur he'd ever felt. A soft noise of greeting that was still far from a real meow came up, a white and black face rubbing happily against his hand before he lifted out the tiniest kitten he'd ever held.

Itachi couldn't help but grin at his startled expression. "Surprise," he said quietly. "He was the runt of a litter. No one wanted him because he was so small and people don't think they'll survive long and his eyes were mismatched, but... well you've seen Charlotte's Web, right? I thought you'd like him and knew you'd take care of him."

Deidara tore his eyes away from the kitten to look up at him, trying to move his shock out of his head to understand what Itachi had said to him. "Oh, yeah, I've seen that movie," he murmured softly, looking back at the kitten again. "And I do like him." He set the box down on the ground so he could put him in his lap. The kitten sniffed him curiously then began to purr loudly against his hand. "Does he have a name, un?"

"Nah .. I'm not good at stuff like that so I'm letting you do the naming," Itachi said with another grin, leaning over to kiss Deidara's cheek. "Wanna go get a snack before I leave? We're being watched."

"I know," Deidara grumbled, looking up at the crowded windows of the living room. Glaring at them until he spotted Daichi and Rin, he pointed at the kitten and grinned widely. The glass silenced the 'awwww!' Rin's expression made, as he slid off the car and climbed into the black Mazda, kitten carefully cradled in his hands. He saw a few people pouting from the windows. Oh well, no show for them.

They pulled out of the drive way in silence. Itachi wasn't sure what to say to him. What was there to be said? Anything that would be had already been said. He'd miss him. He'll call. He'll visit as much as he can, sure Deidara could visit as much as he wanted (so long as he still went to school when he was supposed too). He'd already checked over his schedules, making sure he could visit at least twice a month. Deidara could visit on weekends if he had the money for gas, but he doubted he could. Gas was expensive and he didn't want him to resort to drug selling and prostitution just to get enough money to visit. He didn't want that. He wanted Deidara to himself, he didn't want to share and part of him was worried that he couldn't keep him away from those things he was so use to having.

God, he didn't want to leave him. He wanted to stay and make sure he was alright.

"Killer?"

Deidara's voice broke his thoughts apart and it took him a moment to realize what he was talking about. When he did, he snorted in amusement. The little thing flipping clumsily on Deidara's lap was no 'Killer'. "Killer?"

"You never know," Deidara said in his defense. "He's only a baby now, un."

"He's no killer," Itachi said, sounding quite sure of himself as he poked the little body.

Deidara laughed as the kitten playfully swatted at Itachi's finger, falling over his own legs as he grabbed Itachi's finger and began purring as he rubbed his head against the captured finger. "He's really cute," Deidara said quietly, resting his head on Itachi's shoulder. "I really like him, un."

"I'll leave money with you to get the stuff he needs," Itachi assured him. "You better bring him when you visit."

"I will," Deidara said with a smirk. Itachi had a sudden thought that made him worried for the kitten. Cats don't ride motorcycles. "Oh! Stop here, un! I want a shake."

"Vanilla, right?" Itachi asked with a smile. He laughed to himself when he saw Deidara's surprised look. "You always get vanilla milkshakes. Vanilla milkshakes, chocolate fudge ice cream, strawberry smoothies.... stop looking at me like that, I'm observant."

"....stalker," Deidara accused him.

"It's not stalking if I'm there and you get the same thing every time," he said, parking the car and getting out. "What do you think I want?"

"Uh-... vanilla," Deidara said, flustered. "Because you don't like milkshakes so you know it wont go to waste cause I'll drink the rest, un."

"Stalker," Itachi accused him back, earning an eye roll from the blond. Their shakes bought and made, they returned to sit the hood of the car to enjoy them. Their kitten climbed up Deidara to sniff the cool cup, giving a little sneeze before pawing at it. He looked as though he were letting them know he thought he should taste it first to make sure it was okay for them to eat. Itachi was slightly horrified when Deidara complied, taking his straw out for the kitten to lick happily.

"Dei, he's gonna get sick," Itachi warned.

"No, he's not. I wont give him that much, un," Deidara said petting the kitten's chin. "I'm calling him Milkshake, un."

"Milkshake?" Itachi said in slight disbelief. Personally, he'd kill someone if they named him that, but then again, he wasn't a cat. "Is his middle name 'vanilla'?"

"No, 'blender', un," Deidara joked, snorting in satisfaction when Itachi accidentally spit out his mouth full. "I'm kidding."

"Good," Itachi said, shaking his head as he wiped his mouth and chin. "Milkshake it is then."

"He looks more like an Oreo shake then vanilla anyway," Deidara said, nuzzling the kitten that was complaining for more of the creamy goodness.

"I'm glad you like him," Itachi said, sliding his arm around his waist.

"I'll give you a pet rock if you want to take with you," Deidara said as he looked up at him with the straw back in his mouth. His cute look. Ugh, why was he so good at it?

It earned him a kiss. "I don't think I'd even be able to take care of a rock while I'm in school," he admitted, grinning at him. Yes, he was hopeless with pets. His birds ran into windows, his goldfish ate each other, his puppy was in love with car tires. He was fond of cats, but he was scared of what could happen to them, so he never got one. Deidara was crazy, but his insanity always rubbed off on the sane, so he was sure their kitten was safe. Deidara was still alive wasn't he?

An unwanted glance at his watch told him he needed to go if he was going to make it in time for check in. Setting his milkshake down on the bonnet, he pulled Deidara onto his lap and buried his head in the curve of the blond's neck. He was careful that he didn't crush the kitten as he hugged him tightly.

"Ita—?"

"Shh..." he whispered softly, resting his cheek on his shoulder with his face turned away. "Sorry... I just... don't want to leave."

Deidara held still for him, resting back against him with the purring kitten in his arms. Itachi couldn't help but smile at the uncomfortable moment Deidara was having as he tried to cover it up by continuing to drink his shake. "Um, are you finished having your moment, un?" Deidara asked after he couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Almost," Itachi assured him, playing with Deidara's hair. It really was too long for a boy's hair, but it suited him somehow. His was long as well, but no where near as long as his. Deidara let his stay down for the most part while his own was in a low pony tail so it wasn't so apparent as Deidara's. "Don't get yourself killed while I'm gone. I don't like... not being around."

"Itachi, I've been taking care of myself long before you came around, un," he was reminded, feeling the blond chuckle against him. It hadn't been what he meant, but he decided to leave it at that.

"Yeah, yeah..." Itachi said, sliding him off his lap and stood up once again. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Deidara said climbing into the car again, shifting over when Itachi got in the drivers side to snuggle against his shoulder. Itachi smiled and reached down to pet his hair softly, then shifted the car into gear and pulled out onto the road. Normally he would have driven fast the both of them loved speed, but he didn't want to shorten their time together so for the first time ever, Itachi went the speed limit.

"Why Milkshake?" Itachi asked suddenly, grinning at the thought.

"Because I love milkshakes," Deidara answered simply. "And it's the only thing I can say in English, un."

"Really?" Itachi asked in surprise. "You can't speak English?"

"Nope," Deidara said, tickling the kitten's belly as he moved closer to Itachi. "I'm bilingual, but my other language is German, un."

"Huh... I didn't know you spoke your other half," Itachi admitted, glancing down at him for moment when a stop light hindered them from continuing.

"My mom spoke it a lot, un.. and we use to visit relatives all the time in Germany, so I learned when I was little."

"Fluently?" Itachi asked, stepping on the gas as soon as the light turned. "I'd like to hear you speak German some time... Milkshake does too, don't you?"

The kitten looked up at Itachi and mewed loudly in agreement, trying to crawl over to Itachi's lap, but Deidara stopped him. Wouldn't want his new pet getting hurt from being crushed under a gas petal or something. Snickering, Deidara leaned over and gave Itachi's cheek a soft kiss, moving to his ear to whisper softly: "Ich werde dich vermissen ," he said softly. "Ich wünschte, du müsstest nicht gehen , un."

"What'd you say, Hitler?" Itachi asked, with a grin, tilting his head slightly to rest against Deidara's forehead.

Deidara snickered quietly and kissed his cheek. "Get a dictionary," he teased. The kitten, not wanting to get left out, mewed loudly at them as if to say 'I don't understand what mommy, but can I have a kiss too?' as he climbed up onto Deidara's shoulders and stuck his nose between their faces, licking their cheeks.

"Hey," Itachi warned, setting the kitten down on Deidara's other shoulder and out of the way. "I can kiss him whenever I want, okay, kid?" Reproachfully, Milkshake crawled back over to swat at Itachi without extracting his tiny claws. It made Itachi jump a little at the sudden bop on his nose, but Milkshake didn't tremble at the glare. So defiant. He was taking after mommy quicker then he thought.

"Maybe he wants a kiss too," Deidara suggested, smirking at the look Itachi gave him.

"I'm not kissing a cat," Itachi said, sitting up straight in his seat. "That's very unhygienic. You don't know where he's been, I haven't given him a bath yet either."

"But he loves you, un!" Deidara insisted, holding the kitten up to him. "And he wants a kiss!"

Itachi parked the car in front of the apartment building and turned the car off. "I'm not kissing a cat."

"He's not just _a_ cat," Deidara told him, pouting at him. "He's _our_ cat!"

"No!" Itachi cried, throwing his hands up. "I'll kiss him after you give him a bath."

"But I don't have any cat soap, un," he watched Deidara slump back against the seat. The blond was trying to con him into kissing Milkshake. It wasn't going to work. There was no way in hell he would kiss a dirty cat. Instead he reached over and scratched the tiny thing's head.

Deidara grumbled to himself as Itachi refused. How could he refuse something so cute? "It's okay, Milkshake," he told him as he drew him back against his own body to give him a kiss on his black and white head. "I love you. Daddy's just being a butt head."

"I am not being a butt head," Itachi grumbled next to him, looking defensive. "I just don't want to kiss a dirty cat and it's kinda gross that you're doing it. You kiss me with those lips."

Deidara snorted, puckering his lips up with a grin. "Second hand kissing, un," he stated, then laughed as he leaned back against the black seat of the car. Itachi wasn't falling for his usual tactics today, it was starting to get on his nerves until he saw the expression on Itachi's face from the corner of his eye. It made him turn his head slightly to be able to see it better.

He was sad, but trying not to let Deidara see it, waiting until he thought Deidara wasn't watching to let the expression slip. Setting the kitten down on the dashboard despite the protests, he slid over the clutch and emergency brake to squeeze himself between Itachi and the steering wheel. The expression dropped instantly into a smile as Itachi's hands moved to slide over his sides. Catching them, Deidara watched him a moment before bringing them up to cover his own cheeks with Itachi's hands.

"Don't be sad Itachi," he told him, rubbing his cheeks into his hands. Itachi look startled, but Deidara didn't give him a chance to speak. "Don't be sad," he repeated more sternly. "I like it better when you smile."

Itachi sighed a little and gave him a stupid looking grin, making Deidara laugh at him. He was still chuckling softly when Itachi's arms wrapped around his shoulders to crush him against him, holding him tightly. "I'll miss you," he whispered softly, his breath tickling his ear. "I have to go now..."

"I know," Deidara said, resting his head against Itachi's shoulder, rocking slightly with him, giving his shoulder a little kiss before opening the car door to slide off his lap and back onto the solid black asphalt. "Call me when you get there okay?"

"I'll call when I get there," Itachi said with a small smile, handing Milkshake over to Deidara. "Take good care of him, alright?"

Taking him, Deidara set him on his shoulder as he leaned down into the car again to give him one last kiss, his thumb brushing over Itachi's cheek bone. Forcing himself away before he jumped back in the car with him, Deidara stepped back onto the curb and wrapped his arms around himself with a smile at Itachi. If this were a movie it would be raining, or windy, but it was neither. It was a nice day, a good day for a walk, or something gay like a picnic. Itachi was leaving and stupid stuff like that would have to wait.

It wasn't until he made a shooing motion with his hand did Itachi finally turn the car back on, turning his face away from Deidara. The blond was sure he would pull out without opening his eyes or check for traffic, but Itachi was a good driver and checked, pulling out onto the street to leave Deidara behind. The further the car got, the harder it was for him to force himself to stay in the spot and not chase after the car, demanding that Itachi stay. Stay or take him along. Itachi could do neither and it would hurt him to have to tell him 'no' so he stayed. This horrible sense of loss and longing was a new feeling to him. Nothing lasted forever. That's what made things unique. Things that lasted, that never changed were dull. He hated dull, but as he watched Itachi's black car turn at the next corner, watched Itachi look back at him and give him a smile and a small wave, he felt a sharp tug on his chest that hurt. It hurt so bad he forgot to breath for a moment. Forcing himself to wave back before Itachi disappeared, he dug his teeth into his lower lip, leaning against a 'No Parking' sign that no one paid attention to with his arms wrapped tightly around himself, sinking into the thought that he found himself hating.

He was gone and he wouldn't see him for a few months.

He was gone and he had to find a way to get money to go see him.

He was _gone_.

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End.


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